Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling business, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast lift trucks can be found lifting and moving different goods and materials on jobsites around the world. There have been numerous other conventional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular again thanks to their greater production, lower cost and alteration of certain telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machinery will finish twice the work that a telehandler would do due to their maneuverability and ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
Rental buyers are having significant influence within the rough-terrain forklift industry. More than half of all vertical-mast forklifts are presently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are normally driven mostly by use, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
In the material handling business, the telehandler has become the darling new machinery. Its popularity has improved its benefit in the rental market too. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as productive as opposed to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that even though competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot choose the RT forklifts that have been performing well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and needs a higher level of skillfulness to finish the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would always be a place within the business for lift trucks though, as there are locations that you can not access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain lift truck is compact, small and able to lift a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Essentially, in order to utilize the right machine for your application, you would have to determine what tasks exactly you would be accomplishing, the kind of conditions and environment you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors would help you choose what the right alternatives available are.