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June 5, 2018
Make IP67 the minimum standard for rugged handhelds
Few outside of the rugged computing and perhaps a couple other sectors know what an "IP" rating means, or the specific significance of "IP67." Those inside those markets, however, cherish the designation for what it is — a degree of protection that brings peace of mind.
Really? Well, yes. If an electronic device is "IP67-sealed," that means neither dust nor water will get in. Specifically, there's "ingress protection" designed to keep solids and liquids out. Of the two, dust and water, it's primarily water that most are concerned about. Water as in rain, splashing, spilled drinks, hosing down, or going under. In essence, anything that is used outdoors is in more or less constant danger of coming in contact with water, and since water is unpredictable, one never quite knows how much water that will be, or where it'll be coming from. What we do know is that we'd rather not have water damage or destroy our expensive and necessary (and often irreplaceable) electronic gear.
Why is there a rating system? Because most sealing and protection isn't binary. It isn't either on or off. Sealing and protection come in degrees. Sealing a piece of electronic equipment means extra work, extra cost, and often some extra hassles, like more bulk and weight or less convenient operation. So sealing and protection should have minimal impact on cost and operation, and that is why they come on a sliding scale.
Which makes total sense. If a certain type of device will never be used outdoors it makes no sense to spend extra effort to make it dust and waterproof. If it'll never leave a vehicle, it doesn't really need to be protected against full immersion.
But if there is a chance that dust and liquids may be an issue, it still may make sense to consider the degree of protection needed. A laptop, for example, may get rained on, but it's not very likely to get dropped into a pond and few will want to hose it down with a high-pressure jet of water. It may be a different story for a vehicle mount designed to be used on tractors, scrapers, or bulldozers. Those are routinely hosed down, and if the panel computer mounted on them can be hosed down along with the rest of the vehicle, all the better.
What is most likely to get rained on or drop into a puddle or worse? That would be handhelds. Which means that handhelds should, by default, be sealed to IP67 specifications. IP67 means completely dustproof and also protected against full immersion in water down to about a meter, even if it should take half an hour to retrieve the device.
Why do I offer this suggestion? Because I've become aware of the considerable psychological impact of a device either being fully protected and it only offering some protection.
I've come to that conclusion based on many years' worth of rugged product testing and outdoor product photography. If a product is IP67-sealed, I know we don't have to baby it, we can sit in in a puddle or under a waterfall and it will be okay. If it's less than IP67, there is none of that confidence. It may or may not be damaged, and should water get in after all and destroy the product, then it's our fault because it was only designed for protect to some level.
And that makes all the difference in the world. It's the difference between you feeling you need to protect the product and keep it from harm, rather than being able to use it any which way you need to, without the extra stress of having to baby it.
For me, perhaps the biggest example of the huge difference between "sort of" protected and fully protected are products that I use every day of my life, no matter where I go. Those being my phone and my watch. In my case an iPhone and an Apple Watch. My early iPhones and my first Apple Watch were not waterproof, and I was keenly aware of that weakness, always. So I was hyper-aware of the devices never getting rained on or subjected to any contact with water. They probably could have taken it, but just the prospect of damage and then being lectured by some Apple "genius" that, hey, you didn't take care of your iPhone and the damage is not covered — not good.
Apple apparently realized that, and most other smartphone manufacturers did, too, and so iPhones and Apple Watches have been fully waterproof for some time now. The psychological impact is substantial. Both are really IP68-sealed, meaning they can handle even prolonged immersion. So water is simply no longer an issue.
I am sure the psychological impact of using ruggedized, but only partially protected, handhelds on the job is even greater. They are expensive, they must not fail on the job, and they can't always be babied. And accidents can and will happen.
Which, to me, means that all rugged handhelds that will be used outdoors should be IP67 at least. There may be devices so complex that this is not easily doable. But with most it is doable. The technology is there. So let's get this done whenever possible. IP67 should be the minimum standard for any industrial handheld that may be used outdoors or near liquids.
Posted by conradb212 at 5:46 PM