Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling industry, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast lift trucks could be found lifting and moving various goods and materials on jobsites all around the globe. There have been many other traditional lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred specially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast forklifts have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular again because of their greater efficiency, lower cost and alteration of some telehandler-like features.
Straight-mast machines would finish twice the job that a telehandler would do because of their maneuverability and ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental companies are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental buyers are having major influence within the rough-terrain lift truck industry. Over half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are presently being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are generally driven mainly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by acquisition price.
Within the material handling industry, the telehandler has become the darling new machinery. Its popularity has improved its advantage in the rental market as well. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as useful compared to traditional rough-terrain lift trucks for loading and unloading repetitive jobs. This means that although competition among telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, a lot prefer the RT lift trucks that have been working well for decades.
The telehandler is a bit slower equipment in comparison to a rough terrain forklift unit. They are also ganglier to operate and needs a higher level of skill to complete the job. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There would always be a place in the industry for forklifts however, since there are places which you would not be able to access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are usually compact machinery, smaller but more able to carry a heavier cargo vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to utilize the best machinery 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. These factors will help you decide what the right alternatives available are.