Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts can be found picking up and transporting different products and supplies on jobsites around the world. There have been numerous other standard lift trucks that lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred especially when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more because of their greater productivity, modification of certain telehandler-like features and low cost.
Straight-mast machinery would complete twice the work that a telehandler will do because of their ground speed and maneuverability. Fascinatingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence within the rough-terrain forklift industry. More than 50 percent of all vertical-mast lift trucks are presently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are usually driven mainly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
The telehandler has become a very popular machinery within the material handling business. Their popularity has given them a super advantage in terms of rental utilization. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as useful compared to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that even if competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many prefer the RT lift trucks which have been performing well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and requires a higher level of skillfulness to complete the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There will always be a place in the business for forklifts however, as there are locations which you could not access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain forklift is small, compact and could carry a heavier load vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Essentially, in order to utilize the best equipment for your application, you will have to determine what jobs exactly you will be completing, the type of setting and circumstances you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors will help you decide what the right alternatives available are.