Vertical-mast and rough-terrain lift trucks keep picking up and placing various building supplies on various jobsites even through the rise and evolution of telehandlers on the market. There are many traditional-style lift trucks available within the material handling industry that lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. 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 efficiency, lower cost and modification of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast forklift could finish twice the work as a telehandler because of their excellent handling and maneuverability in addition to their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
Rental buyers are having significant influence within the rough-terrain lift truck industry. Over 50 percent of all vertical-mast lift trucks are currently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are generally driven mostly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
Within the material handling industry, the telehandler has become the darling new machinery. Its popularity has improved 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 helpful as opposed to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive jobs. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many prefer the RT forklifts 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 job. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There would always be a place within the business for forklifts though, since there are locations that you would not be able to access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are generally compact machines, smaller but more able to lift a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to use the right equipment for your application, you must determine what tasks precisely you would be completing, the type of conditions and setting you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors would help you decide what the right alternatives available are.