Advice wanted on Android tablet

We'd be looking for a bigger size, since the dash is fairly distant from the driver so a bigger screen would help. Something like the Galaxy Tab, but it needs to be able to take a lot of bouncing around. I've nearly hit my head on the cabin roof driving over potholes and I'm in a seat with suspension! Anything mounted on the dash is going to get thumped.

Yes, I'm leaning towards a Samsung or other good brand name, mainly because we could also get a tough case to help protect it. Some of the minor brands aren't catered for in the accessory market.

"Just remember illegal for driver to operate device when driving"
The way our truck bounces while being driven that would almost be an impossible task anyway. Mainly want a good big screen so the driver can use the map to navigate by. We're getting quite a few new people in the region and they don't always know the minor roads, so having something to navigate from will be useful. We have printed map books already that the passenger can refer to (if there is one: usually is but not guaranteed).

Looks like a good setup but we have a middle seat in the fire truck. Not sure if there's floor room available for this sort of rig, but I'll have a look next time I'm in the shed.

Is that battery monitor wireless or have you tucked the cables out of sight?

We looked at dashcams too but the admin lot are a bit twitchy about them. Wonder if the tablet could be used as a dashcam at the same time?

The battery monitor is powered from the ciggy socket - you can see the switch on it glowing red in the pic. That wire is tucked out of sight. The connection between the battery and the display is long-range Bluetooth (30+ metres). There is a name for that standard, but I've forgotten it. There is a small Bluetooth sender unit in a sealed plastic box in a protected place toward the front of the van.

Are admin twitchy about the dashcam hanging off the windscreen (visibility issues for the driver) or because they record your own actions as well as those of the idiot that caused the accident? I imagine in an emergency response situation with what you have to do, in this litigious environment we live in the recording of your own emergency actions which may be somewhat "unconventional" could result in some "issues".

If the tablet was mounted high enough to see the road it would undoubtedly work, but native file sizes are large and recording time would be limited unless the device can use a very large external memory card (I'm thinking 64GB or more - AFAIK most are limited to 32). Being a large object it would probably impinge on driver's lines of sight and would be subject to the legal issues I alluded to if they are significant to your admin people.

Cheers