Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling business, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast lift trucks could be found picking up and transporting different items and materials on jobsites all over the world. 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. Ever since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular again because of their greater productivity, lower cost and alteration of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck could finish twice the work as a telehandler because of their superior maneuverability and handling along with their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain forklift business. Over half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are currently 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 common equipment in the material handling industry. 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 several lift truck users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as helpful compared to traditional rough-terrain forklifts for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that even though competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT forklifts which have been performing well for decades.
The telehandler is a little slower equipment in comparison to a rough terrain lift truck unit. They are also ganglier to utilize and needs a higher level of skill to finish 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 though, because there are places that you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are usually compact machines, smaller but more able to lift a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, so as to use the best machinery for your application, you would need to determine what jobs exactly you will be accomplishing, the type of circumstances and environment you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you choose what the right options available are.