Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling business, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts can be found picking up and moving different items and materials on jobsites around the globe. There have been numerous other conventional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened especially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular again due to their greater productivity, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck can complete two times the job as a telehandler due to their superior handling and maneuverability as well as their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain forklift industry. Over half of all vertical-mast forklifts are presently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are normally driven mostly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
Within the material handling business, the telehandler has become the darling new machine. Its popularity has improved its benefit 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 nearly as useful as opposed to conventional rough-terrain forklifts for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT forklifts that have been performing well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is ganglier, a little slower to operate and requires a higher level of skill to complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would always be a place in the industry for lift trucks though, as there are places which you could not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain lift trucks are usually compact machines, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Essentially, so as to use the right equipment for your application, you will need to determine what jobs exactly you would be completing, the kind of setting and circumstances you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you choose what the right alternatives available are.