Elevating Your Projects: The Benefits of Hiring Scissor Lifts and Cherry Pickers
While scissor lifts and cherry pickers both provide a stable working platform at height, they aren’t the same. Understanding the differences between them and their benefits will help you decide which tool to hire for your project.
A quick overview of scissor lifts vs. cherry pickers
The greatest difference between scissor lifts and cherry picker sis this:
Scissor lifts go up and down.
Cherry pickers go up, down and also have outreach. In other words, they can reach up and over an obstacle to place you in the right position for a task.
While this is the basic premise, you should also be aware that there are different types of cherry pickers. One that has more vertical lift than horizontal is described as a telescopic boom (you might also hear cherry pickers called boom lifts). One with more outreach is an articulated lift.
Cherry pickers tend to provide a higher reach than a scissor lift. However, the exact height capabilities of each will depend on the make and model.
While this might, from the outset, seem to suggest that a cherry picker is a better tool than a scissor lift, nothing could be further from the truth. Both have advantages and it’s important to hire the right option for the task at hand.
When to hire a cherry picker
A cherry picker provides a worker with a stable, enclosed platform from which to work at height. With vertical reaches that can reach the dizzy heights of 48 metres, cherry pickers are often required on construction sites and indoor worksites.
The benefits of a cherry picker include:
Highly versatile: Thanks to having both vertical and horizontal reach, a cherry picker is the right choice when obstacles need to be overcome.
Efficient and easy to manoeuvre: Quickly navigate the platform to the required spot. When time is of the essence, the last thing that’s needed is a tool that’s tricky to operate.
Safe and comfortable: Provides the safest of platforms for work at height. High guard rails and other safety features create a sound environment from which to carry out tasks.
The highest outreach and height capacity: Can reach tremendous heights – much higher than a scissor lift.
Cherry pickers are the right choice if you need additional manoeuvrability, reach higher areas or have tricky obstacles to navigate. Examples of where you might use them include:
Within warehouses.
Setting up stages or events.
Industrial manufacturing.
On building sites.
Cherry pickers are electric/battery-powered or diesel-powered. The latter are more rugged so are often used in exterior locations where the landscape might be a little less forgiving.
When to hire a scissor lift
Scissor lifts have a simpler construction and are, therefore, easier to operate. They do require a very stable platform, hence their most common use is within indoor spaces. That’s not to say that they don’t have a place outside – there are diesel-powered models designed for this. Depending on its capacity, a scissor lift can reach heights of up to 22 metres.
The benefits of a scissor lift include:
Cost-effective: Cheaper to hire than a cherry picker – they’re also cheaper to run.
Simple to use: They’re uncomplicated to operate and also easy to move from place to place around a worksite.
Can be customised: Their simple design allows bespoke elements to be added. Tilting devices, turntables, extending platforms etc allow a scissor lift to be adapted for specific requirements.
A scissor lift is the right choice for tasks that only require vertical lift. They’re ideal for tasks at height in environments like:
Indoor construction.
Indoor decorating.
Stage and event setup.
Within warehouses.
Not sure which type of access equipment will best suit your needs? The experts at McMahon Hire Solutions will provide professional advice to ensure that you hire the right lift for your requirements.
With one of the widest ranges of high-end equipment hire in Victoria, not to mention our decades of industry experience, it’s no wonder our customers return to us again and again.
Discover the McMahon difference. Contact us today for more details.