Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast forklifts could be found lifting and transporting different items and supplies on jobsites all around the globe. There have been numerous other traditional lift trucks which 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-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular once more due to their greater productivity, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck could complete double the job as a telehandler because of their superior handling and maneuverability in addition to their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental purchasers are having major influence in the rough-terrain lift truck business. Over half of all vertical-mast forklifts are presently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are normally driven mainly by use, that is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
The telehandler has become a very common machine in the material handling industry. 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 some forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as productive as opposed to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for unloading and loading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT forklifts which have been working well for decades.
In comparison, the telehandler is a little slower, ganglier to operate and needs a higher level of skill to finish the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There will continuously be a place in the business for lift trucks however, since there are locations which you will not be able to access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain forklift is compact, small and could carry a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Basically, in order to use the right machine for your application, you should determine what tasks exactly you will be accomplishing, the kind of environment and conditions you will be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the right alternatives available are.