Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts could be found picking up and moving different goods and materials on jobsites all around the world. There have been many other conventional lift trucks that lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular once more due to their greater productivity, lower cost and modification of some telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machinery would complete double the job which a telehandler will do because of their ground speed and maneuverability. Interestingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain lift truck industry. More than half of all vertical-mast forklifts are now being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are generally driven mainly by use, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
Within the material handling industry, the telehandler has become the darling new machine. Its popularity has improved its advantage in the rental market as well. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as helpful compared to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many prefer the RT forklifts which have been working well for decades.
The telehandler is a bit slower equipment in comparison to a rough terrain lift truck model. They are also ganglier to utilize and requires a higher level of skillfulness to finish the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would always be a place within the business for forklifts though, as there are places which you could not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain lift trucks are normally compact machinery, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the best equipment for your application, you should determine what jobs precisely you would be completing, the kind of conditions and setting you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors would help you decide what the best alternatives available are.