Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast lift trucks could be found lifting and moving various goods and supplies on jobsites all over the globe. There have been many other conventional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred specially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular once more thanks to their greater production, adaptation of certain telehandler-like features and low cost.
Straight-mast machinery will finish double the work which a telehandler would do due to their ground speed and maneuverability. Fascinatingly enough, rental outfits are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
In the rough-terrain lift truck business, rental purchasers have been having a greater influence. More than half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are currently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are usually driven mostly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
The telehandler has become an extremely common machinery within the material handling business. Their popularity has given them a better advantage when it comes to 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 compared to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive jobs. This means that even if competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT lift trucks which have been working well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and needs a higher level of skill to complete the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There would always be a place within the business for lift trucks however, because there are places which you could not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain lift trucks are generally compact equipment, smaller but more able to lift a heavier load vertically compared to the telehandler. Essentially, in order to use the right equipment for your application, you should determine what tasks exactly you will be completing, the type of setting and circumstances you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors would help you choose what the best options available are.