Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts could be found lifting and moving various items and supplies on jobsites all around the world. There have been numerous other conventional lift trucks that lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred specially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more thanks to their greater efficiency, lower cost and alteration of certain telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck can complete double the job as a telehandler because of their excellent maneuverability and handling along with their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental purchasers are having major influence in the rough-terrain lift truck industry. Over half of all vertical-mast forklifts are presently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are generally driven mainly by use, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
The telehandler has become an extremely common machine in the material handling business. Their popularity has given them a better advantage in terms of rental use. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as useful as opposed to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive jobs. This means that although competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many prefer the RT lift trucks that have been working well for decades.
The telehandler is a bit slower equipment in comparison to a rough terrain forklift unit. They are also ganglier to use and requires a higher level of skill to complete the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There will continuously be a place within the business for lift trucks however, because there are locations which you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain lift trucks are normally compact equipment, smaller but more able to carry a heavier load vertically compared to the telehandler. Essentially, in order to use the right equipment for your application, you will need to determine what jobs precisely you will be accomplishing, the type of conditions and environment you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the right alternatives available are.