Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts can be found picking up and transporting various items and supplies on jobsites all around the world. There have been numerous other traditional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred specially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more because of their greater production, adaptation of some telehandler-like features and low cost.
The straight mast lift truck can complete two times the job as a telehandler due to their excellent maneuverability and handling in addition to their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
Rental purchasers are having major influence within the rough-terrain lift truck industry. More than half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are presently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are normally driven mainly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
In the material handling industry, the telehandler has become the darling new machine. Its popularity has improved its advantage in the rental market as well. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several lift truck users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as useful compared to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that even though competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT forklifts that have been performing well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and requires a higher level of skillfulness to complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There will always be a place in the business for lift trucks though, because there are locations that you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are usually compact machinery, smaller but more able to lift a heavier load vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, so as to utilize the best machine for your application, you must determine what tasks precisely you would be completing, the type of environment and circumstances you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors will help you choose what the right options available are.