Hand trucks can make or break a material handling company. They help workers handle everything from warehouse boxes to complete furniture sets to appliance installations. Without hand trucks, many businesses would be left with dangerous manual lifting. Still, the wrong hand truck can cause back issues, slow workflow, and require more workers to complete simple jobs. It's no wonder business owners are loyal to a fault when they find a hand truck that works for them.
One big name on the market is Magliner, which specializes in customizable hand trucks made for heavy loads. The biggest name isn't always the best, though; newer options have plenty of features that Magliner doesn't cover or hasn't perfected. For example, Voltstair is a motorized hand truck with the same reliability and safety standards as Magliner at a fraction of the cost for heavy-duty hand trucks.
What's the best hand truck between the Voltstair and the Magliner? This article will discuss the main differences between these two hand truck products and decide which is best for business.
What Businesses Need to Consider When Picking Hand Trucks
While some features define the standard for modern hand trucks, a few stand out and make a difference in everyday use. When considering the best hand truck for businesses, it's essential to factor in these categories:
- Quality - Since they will see constant use, the hand trucks your workers use should be made of sturdy materials. While there are great hand carts made out of plastic and steel, these materials tend to have drawbacks. Aluminum gives the best quality without being too heavy. It won't rust and lasts a long time.
- Special Circumstances - There are situations that many material handlers find themselves in over and over. A great example is moving merchandise up and down stairs. Does your hand truck cover situations that don't fit neatly into moving heavy objects across a flat surface? Unless you're sure you'll never need to move items up or down stairs, your hand trucks must be prepared for steps.
- Capacity - How large are the items you're moving? For the safety of your merchandise and workers, you need tools with a suitable load capability in mind. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health puts the weight limit at 51 lbs. per person. Of course, most jobs move merchandise much larger than that, so a suitable hand truck must cover as much weight as possible.
What is Better for Business: Voltstair or Magliner?
A few key differences make Voltstair and Magliner the perfect fit for different situations. To pick an overall winner, we judged based on the above-mentioned parameters: Quality, Particular Circumstances, and Capacity.
Voltstair offers a motorized solution for heavy material transport, while Magliner is tailored to extended customization on standard hand trucks. Both are suitable for their specific use cases, but they excel in different areas.
What are Magliner Hand Trucks?
Magliner is a well-known solution to material transport with customizable hand trucks, both heavy duty and general. Their lines cover various situations, including stair climbing and bulky, large-item movement (like boilers and water heaters). Their trucks are on the pricey side, but they have a little something for everyone that needs to transport items from A to B.
Features
Magliner has an impressive range of hand trucks that cover many different situations. In addition, the carts cover a variety of use cases, wheel types, and capacities.
- Customizable - Magliner offers individual parts for most of their hand trucks, giving users the chance to build their ideal solution.
- Large capacity - Offering 500 lbs. weight capacity, sometimes even higher, Magliner shows dedication to moving objects of any size. They have an assortment of products to transport nearly anything you can imagine.
- Powered Options - Magliner has a stair-focused powered hand truck option with a rechargeable battery. This helps showcase their dedication to covering many situations their buyers could face.
While there are loads of customization options for Magliner Hand Trucks, they all rely on the user to do most (if not all) of the maneuvering. Their powered option lacks features that make it usable on different floor types, using the same kinds of wheels that non-powered versions use.
However, if these features aren't needed, you will still be satisfied with Magliner Hand Trucks as they are high quality and made with die-cast aluminum to avoid rust and heavy bodies, and their wheels are puncture-proof.
Special Circumstances
Magliners offer lots of customization for different situations, but some solutions prove costly. It's easy to grab specific parts for hand trucks, but if you need something special to get up and down stairs or take pressure off the user, the Magliner series can cost over $4000. For example, their Powered Stair Climber Hand Truck has two standard wheels and a battery to power the motor. While this is fine for a quick solution, the cost doesn't offer as many perks as one would expect for daily stair-climbing.
In terms of design, especially for their Stair Climber model, the Magliner hand trucks fail to address everyday issues during material transport. Complications arise when dealing with multiple floors, a tighter budget, or fewer workers. The same health and inventory loss issues plaguing other truck makers are not addressed in these designs, only worked around.
What are Voltstair Motorized Hand Trucks?
Voltstair is a motorized hand truck that allows users to ascend & descend large, heavy, and unwieldy items in the safest way possible. It focuses on taking the brunt of weight off of the user. The motorized tracks rotate, allowing for movement up and down the stairs.
Quality
Voltstair is made of sturdy aluminum, making it lightweight to move and store. It's both light and heavy-duty, holding up to 500 lbs. at its biggest weight capacity.
Special Circumstances
Voltstair is made to work efficiently on any surface, including stairs. The motorized tracks rotate for easy up and down transport of items up to 500 lbs. with their biggest version. It also works on nearly any type of flooring, including carpet (when attached securely to the ground), cement, stone, and wood.
Voltstair Features
- Powered, deep grooved tracks for easy stair climbing
- A lightweight frame with models ranging up to 500 lb. weight capacity
- Padded handgrips for safer and more comfortable movement
- Control panel for clear management of the hand truck
The Voltstair product line covers both general and particular circumstances. For example, stair-climbing isn't typically considered in designs for hand trucks, especially models designed for heavy-duty transports. Instead, it's assumed that the user will adjust to make climbing as easy as possible or have help on hand. Voltstair’s motorized tracks make stair climbing with heavy loads safer, easier, and with less stress on the user.
Voltstair Solves Multiple Pain Points for Material Handlers
While both hand truck lines offer essential features for the daily movement of heavy items, Voltstair's motorized tracks and battery power set it apart. In addition to removing the strain on workers going up and down stairs, the loss prevention and time-saving speed make Voltstair a clear winner. While Magliners are high quality, the design feels more like a standard hand truck with a battery than a solution to the problems with standard hand trucks.
Voltstair has specific and functional features that make material transport up and down stairs safer and more efficient for workers. In addition, the line features important specs for constant use and general material transport—everything from appliance delivery to upper-level floor moving is covered. While the Magliner offers powerful business tools, Voltstair's design provides specific solutions for every pain point in material handling industries.
Your business needs sturdy, straightforward tools. As you decide what makes sense for your needs, consider all the factors. While both products are worth a look, the Voltstair stands out for everyday use and covers various situations.
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