Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast lift trucks could be found picking up and moving different goods and supplies on jobsites all over the globe. There have been many other standard lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more thanks to their greater efficiency, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machinery will complete two times the job which a telehandler would do due to their ground speed and maneuverability. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Within the rough-terrain forklift business, rental purchasers have been having a greater influence. More than 50 percent of all vertical-mast forklifts are now being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are usually driven mainly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
Within the material handling business, the telehandler has become the darling new machinery. Its popularity has enhanced its benefit 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 forklifts for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot choose the RT forklifts that have been working well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is ganglier, a little slower to operate and requires a higher level of skillfulness to finish the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There will always be a place in the industry for forklifts however, because there are locations that you will not be able to access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are generally compact machines, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the right machine for your application, you will need to determine what tasks exactly you would be completing, the kind of setting and circumstances you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors will help you choose what the best alternatives available are.