Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling market, rough terrain lift trucks and vertical mast forklifts could be found picking up and transporting different items and supplies on jobsites around the world. There have been numerous 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 again because of their greater productivity, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast lift truck could finish double the work as a telehandler due to their excellent maneuverability and handling in combination with their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain forklift industry. Over half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are currently being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are usually driven mainly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
The telehandler has become a very common equipment within 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 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 even though competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT forklifts that have been performing well for decades.
The telehandler is a little slower machine in comparison to a rough terrain forklift unit. They are also ganglier to use and needs a higher level of skill to complete the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they require it. There would continuously be a place within the industry for lift trucks though, since there are locations that you can not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain lift trucks are normally compact equipment, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the right equipment for your application, you should determine what tasks exactly you will be completing, the type of circumstances and environment you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the right options available are.