Vertical-mast and rough-terrain forklifts keep lifting and placing different building supplies on different jobsites even through the evolution and rise of telehandlers on the market. There are a lot of conventional-style lift trucks available in the material handling business which lost market share to telehandlers. This occurred especially when the competition broke onto the construction scene. Ever since that time, sales numbers have stabilized. Vertical-mast lift trucks have re-surfaced and seem to be becoming more popular again thanks to their greater efficiency, lower cost and alteration of certain telehandler-like features.
The straight mast forklift can complete double the work as a telehandler because of their superior maneuverability and handling as well as their better ground speed. Fascinatingly enough, rental outfits are starting to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Rental purchasers are having significant influence in the rough-terrain lift truck industry. More than half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are now being sold to a rental yard. These purchases are usually driven mostly by utilization, that is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
The telehandler has become an extremely common machinery in the material handling business. Their popularity has given them a super advantage in terms of rental use. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is several forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not nearly as useful compared to traditional rough-terrain forklifts for loading and unloading repetitive jobs. This means that even if competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many choose the RT lift trucks 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 complete the task. On the upside, they get the reach if they need it. There would always be a place in the business for lift trucks however, because there are places which you will not be able to access with a telehandler.
The rough-terrain lift truck is small, compact and could lift a heavier cargo vertically compared to the telehandler. Essentially, in order to use the best machinery for your application, you should determine what tasks precisely you will be accomplishing, the kind of environment and conditions you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. All these factors would help you decide what the best options available are.