Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast lift trucks could be found lifting and moving various goods and materials on jobsites around the globe. There have been many other conventional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred specially when the competition 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 because of their greater efficiency, lower cost and alteration of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast forklift can complete two times the job as a telehandler due to their excellent handling and maneuverability in combination with their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
In the rough-terrain lift truck industry, rental buyers have been having a greater influence. More than 50 percent of all vertical-mast forklifts are presently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are normally driven mainly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
In the material handling industry, the telehandler has become the darling new machinery. Its popularity has improved its advantage in the rental market too. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some lift truck users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as helpful compared to traditional rough-terrain forklifts for loading and unloading repetitive jobs. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot choose 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 skillfulness to finish the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would always be a place in the industry for forklifts however, because there are locations that you would not be able to access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain lift truck is compact, small and able to carry a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, so as to utilize the right equipment for your application, you would have to determine what jobs precisely you will be accomplishing, the kind of setting and circumstances you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you choose what the right alternatives available are.