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While there are certainly plenty of great tablets you can buy right now whether you’re into Android or Apple stuff (or even Windows-powered hardware), fans of rugged gadgets may have quite a bit of trouble finding such a slate with a decent balance between power and affordability.
Samsung’s early 2021-released Galaxy Tab Active 3, for instance, is pretty great but at a retail price of $489.99 and up, the 8-inch model doesn’t exactly feel designed for the masses. Despite its more advanced age, 2019’s larger and higher-end Galaxy Tab Active Pro is still costlier, normally fetching $600 in a single 64GB storage configuration.
That’s where the even older Galaxy Tab Active 2 comes in, setting you back a measly $269.99 today only. Commercially released more than three years ago in the US, the mid-range 8-incher is no longer sold directly by Samsung, so you’ll need to rely on Woot instead to hook you up with some ultra-affordable brand-new units.
These are backed by a full 1-year manufacturer warranty, mind you, and in case you’re wondering, Samsung used to charge as much as $420 for one such device.
You’re obviously looking at a Wi-Fi-only variant here capable of accommodating just 16 gigs of data internally while packing an octa-core Exynos 7870 processor in combination with 3 gigs of memory.
Of course, the military-grade design is the Tab Active 2’s real selling point, guaranteeing the slate’s top-notch resistance against everything from extreme temperatures to low pressure, high altitude, vibration, shock, dust, and obviously, water immersion.
The low-cost tablet also comes with a water-resistant S Pen included as standard while unfortunately running the fairly outdated 9.0 version of Android after originally being released with 7.1 Nougat onboard. That’s just the kind of thing you’ll need to learn to live with if you want to spend less than three Benjamins on an incredibly robust tablet with an otherwise decent spec sheet.
