Rough-terrain and vertical-mast lift trucks keep picking up and positioning various building supplies on different jobsites even through the evolution and rise of telehandlers on the market. There are numerous traditional-style forklifts available within the material handling market which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened especially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have become stable. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-emerged and seem to be becoming more popular again due to their greater production, lower cost and modification of some telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machines would finish twice the job which a telehandler would do due to their maneuverability and ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast units.
Rental buyers are having significant influence within the rough-terrain forklift business. More than half of all vertical-mast forklifts are now being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are usually driven mainly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
The telehandler has become an extremely popular machine within the material handling industry. Their popularity has given them a super advantage when it comes to rental utilization. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as helpful compared to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT lift trucks which have been working well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and requires a higher level of skillfulness to finish the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would continuously be a place in the industry for lift trucks though, because there are places that you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are generally compact machines, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the best machine for your application, you would need to determine what jobs precisely you will be completing, the type of setting and circumstances you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the right alternatives available are.