Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast forklifts can be found lifting and moving various items and supplies on jobsites around the world. There have been numerous other traditional 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-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular again because of their greater productivity, adaptation of certain telehandler-like features and low cost.
The straight mast forklift can finish two times the job as a telehandler because of their excellent maneuverability and handling in combination with their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Within the rough-terrain forklift industry, rental purchasers have been having a greater influence. Over 50 percent of all vertical-mast lift trucks are presently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are normally driven mostly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
In the material handling business, the telehandler has become the darling new machine. Its popularity has enhanced its benefit in the rental market as well. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some lift truck users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as productive compared to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive jobs. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT forklifts which 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 job. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would continuously be a place within the industry for forklifts though, as there are locations that you could not access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain lift truck is small, compact and could carry a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to use the right machinery for your application, you must determine what jobs exactly you will be accomplishing, the type of conditions and environment you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors will help you decide what the best alternatives available are.