Even after the rise and explosion of telehandlers on the material handling business, rough terrain forklifts and vertical mast forklifts could be found picking up and moving different items and materials on jobsites all over the globe. There have been many other standard lift trucks which lost market share to telehandlers. This happened specially when the challenger 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 once more because of their greater efficiency, lower cost and adaptation of some telehandler-like features.
The straight mast forklift can finish twice the job as a telehandler because of their excellent handling and maneuverability in combination with their better ground speed. Interestingly enough, rental outfits are beginning to charge higher rates on straight-mast models.
Within the rough-terrain lift truck business, rental buyers have been having a greater influence. More than half of all vertical-mast lift trucks are now being sold to a rental yard. These acquisitions are usually driven mainly by utilization, which is a factor closely followed by purchase price.
The telehandler has become a very common machine within the material handling industry. Their popularity has given them a better advantage in terms of rental use. Their overall expansion has been moderated by their higher price. There is some forklift users who feel that telehandlers are not practically as useful compared to conventional rough-terrain lift trucks for loading and unloading repetitive tasks. This means that although competition amongst telehandler marketers has lowered their prices, many prefer the RT lift trucks which have been performing 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 need it. There would always be a place within the industry for lift trucks however, since there are locations that you could not access with a telehandler.
Rough terrain forklifts are normally compact equipment, smaller but more able to carry a heavier load vertically as opposed to the telehandler. Basically, in order to use the best machine for your application, you must determine what jobs exactly you would be completing, the kind of environment and circumstances you would be operating in and what your load capacity is. These factors would help you choose what the right options available are.