Vertical-mast and rough-terrain forklifts keep picking up and placing different building supplies on various jobsites even through the evolution and rise of telehandlers on the market. There are a lot of traditional-style lift trucks available in the material handling industry that lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred especially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more due to their greater efficiency, adaptation of some telehandler-like features and low cost.
The straight mast forklift can complete double the job as a telehandler because of their excellent maneuverability and handling in addition to their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
In the rough-terrain lift truck industry, rental purchasers have been having a greater influence. Over half of all vertical-mast forklifts are now being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are generally 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 enhanced its advantage in the rental market as well. 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 as opposed to traditional 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 lift trucks which have been performing well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and requires a higher level of skillfulness to complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There will continuously be a place in the industry for forklifts though, since there are locations that you will not be able to access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain lift truck is compact, small and able to lift a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, so as to utilize the right machine for your application, you should determine what tasks precisely you would be completing, the type of circumstances and environment you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors will help you choose what the right alternatives available are.