Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts could be found lifting and moving various goods and materials on jobsites all around the world. There have been numerous other standard lift trucks that lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred particularly when the challenger broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular once more due to their greater productivity, lower cost and adaptation of certain telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machines would finish double the job that a telehandler will do due to their ground speed and maneuverability. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain lift truck business. Over half of all vertical-mast forklifts are now being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are normally driven mainly by use, that is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
The telehandler has become a very common machine in the material handling business. Their popularity has given them a better advantage when it comes to rental utilization. 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 conventional rough-terrain forklifts for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT forklifts which have been performing well for decades.
The telehandler is a little slower equipment in comparison to a rough terrain forklift model. They are also ganglier to utilize and requires a higher level of skill to complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There would always be a place in the business for forklifts though, as there are places which you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are generally compact equipment, smaller but more able to carry a heavier load vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, so as to utilize the best equipment for your application, you will have to determine what tasks exactly you will be completing, the kind of environment and conditions you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors will help you decide what the right alternatives available are.