How does a scissor lift work?
A scissor lift raises its platform on a set of crossed, folding supports that extend straight up. The platform is large, often big enough for two or three people and their materials, and it is very stable at height because the load stays directly over the chassis. What it cannot do is move sideways: the work has to be above the spot where the machine is parked.
Electric scissor lifts are the warehouse and fit-out standard: quiet, no emissions, narrow enough for a doorway, with working heights from about six to fourteen metres. Rough terrain diesel scissors go higher, to around twenty metres, on outriggers.
How does a cherry picker work?
A cherry picker puts a basket on the end of a boom that lifts and extends. An articulating boom has knuckles so it can reach over a parapet or around a machine; a telescopic boom reaches furthest in a straight line. The basket is smaller, usually rated for one or two people, and the machine's capacity falls as the boom extends. In return it can put the operator in places a scissor lift can never reach.
Which reaches higher?
Cherry pickers. Large telescopic booms reach working heights of forty metres and more; scissor lifts top out around twenty. But height is only half the question. A scissor lift at twelve metres can carry far more on its platform than a boom at the same height, and for a long job at one spot that matters more than the number on the data plate.
Which is better on rough or sloping ground?
Standard electric scissor lifts need a firm, level floor. Rough terrain scissors and self-propelled booms cope with hard standing outdoors within their slope limits. For soft ground, slopes or restricted access, a tracked spider lift, which is a compact cherry picker on outriggers, is usually the answer. Whatever the machine, assessing the ground is the operator's first job and a core part of IPAF training.
What training do you need for each?
Both are mobile elevating work platforms and both need an IPAF PAL Card. Scissor lifts are category 3a (mobile vertical), cherry pickers category 3b (mobile boom). The two are normally taken together as a one-day 3a and 3b course, so an operator can use either. The card lasts five years.
So which should you choose?
- Work directly overhead, firm floor, more than one person or a lot of material: scissor lift.
- Work you cannot park underneath, over an obstacle, around a structure, or out from a building edge: cherry picker.
- Indoors, through doorways, in a finished space: electric scissor lift or a compact electric boom.
- Outdoors on rough ground or a slope: rough terrain scissor, or a tracked spider lift.
- Very high, or a long horizontal reach: telescopic boom.
If the answer is both, hire is the way to find out: try the machine on the job before you commit to owning one.