Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast lift trucks can be found lifting and transporting different products and supplies on jobsites all around the world. There have been numerous other traditional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more because of their greater production, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck could complete twice the work as a telehandler due to their excellent maneuverability and handling along with their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
Rental purchasers are having major influence in the rough-terrain lift truck industry. More than 50 percent of all vertical-mast forklifts are currently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are usually driven mainly by utilization, that 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 advantage in the rental market too. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as useful compared to conventional rough-terrain forklifts for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT lift trucks that have been working well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is ganglier, a little slower to operate and needs a higher level of skillfulness to complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would always be a place in the business for lift trucks however, because there are places that you can not access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain forklift is compact, small and could carry a heavier load vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the right machine for your application, you should determine what tasks exactly you would be accomplishing, the type of circumstances and setting you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the right options available are.