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Over the past two decades, as jobsite needs have continued to evolve, manufacturers like Genie^® have developed boom lifts that can reach higher, lift more, and tackle more extreme applications, providing more and more options for accessing tall, hard-to-reach jobsites.
 
Since the introduction of the first Genie “super booms” in the early 2000’s — the S^®-125 and Z^®-135/70 — Genie has continued its focus on quality solutions that solve real-world jobsite challenges. Today, these high-reaching boom lifts — booms that can reach higher than 100 ft (30.48 m) — can be found tackling any number of tall and extreme jobs, like maintaining turbines on wind farms, preparing space shuttles for launch, or performing construction, maintenance and upgrades at stadiums and sports arenas. 

With their expanding XChassis™ Genie’s modern, high-reaching booms can fit through the tight entries inside sports stadiums and arenas before being set up for maximum lift. On wind farms, high-reaching telescopic booms, such as Genie’s highest-reaching boom, the SX™-180, can be a better fit than more traditional high-height equipment like cranes because booms more easily extend or retract in a shorter amount of time.

And because telescopic booms are engineered to offer greater horizontal outreach than any other type of aerial platform, a super boom can be especially useful at jobsites like an oil and gas refinery, where workers need to not only consider height, but horizontal reach when trying to work around pipes and tall structures to access hard-to-reach areas. Other utilities also have similar limitations that can be overcome by big booms with their sizable range of motion. Some sites have found that keeping a big boom on site can cut back on time needed for repairs, which can be critical when trying to maintain energy supplies for customers.

Other tasks including bridge inspections or ski lift maintenance also benefit from the horizontal reach of a telescopic, high-reaching boom. The Genie SX-135 XC™ (Xtra Capacity™) boom, for example, has a horizontal reach of up to 90 ft (27.43 m), which means the chassis of the boom can be set up on stable, even ground while workers inspect a bridge over a road or river, or fix a ski lift on a slope.

When selecting the right equipment for your extreme, high-reaching application, picking the right equipment is critical, as it is with any other application. Here are a few more things to consider when determining which big boom is the right machine for your job:

• Weight. Think about what kind of materials or equipment you’ll need. Heavy-lift Genie XC models, with an industry-leading dual lift capacity of 660 lb (300 kg) unrestricted and 1,000 lb (454 kg) restricted, can access jobs up to 141 ft (43.15 m) with the SX-135 XC.
• Space. It’s not just about the height and reach once you’re inside a space. Also, consider how to get the equipment to the work site. Genie offers a Building Information Modeling (BIM) library that can help customers determine how to get a machine to where it’s needed, even before the boom arrives on site.
• Specialization. A telescopic boom used for glass installation, for example, may need different options than one used for welding or general construction. And, with a variety of boom lift options and accessories that are compatible with even higher-reaching Genie booms, each boom can be adapted to meet the needs of specific work sites, safely optimizing productivity.