Recteq size

[Bigbux58]

Hello all,
I think I have narrowed my pellet grill purchase to Recteq and Grilla. But I seem to change my mind every other day. lol.
Question for the masses… every video I see about Recteq. The grills seem a lot shorter than the others. Unless every one that post a video about them are huge, I’m a little concerned about the height. Are they shorter or am I just crazy? Thanks

 

[SmokeOCD]

35" from paver to first grate for me. And I am tall - so maybe a picture wouldn't really change your mind.
Just had a custom cover made for my 1070 so I happen to have that measurement.
What model are you eyeballin'?

 

[Bigbux58]

35" from paver to first grate for me. And I am tall - so maybe a picture wouldn't really change your mind.
Just had a custom cover made for my 1070 so I happen to have that measurement.
What model are you eyeballin'?

Thank you. Prob the 1100 or 1250. Since the wife gave me the ok I want something big. lol. Do you like the one you have?

 

[SmokeOCD]

Thank you. Prob the 1100 or 1250. Since the wife gave me the ok I want something big. lol. Do you like the one you have?

Nope. It's about a 50/50 love hate thing, but that's because of the model. I bought the newest, shiny-est one they made. All stainless. The design is different than the other ones they have. They discontinued the 1070, I guess due to issues with the design.
I would go with 1100 - I've heard there's more headroom for the second grate, meaning it's easier to put shoulders and such in there. Also, if you just compare pictures on amazon of the two grills it really looks like it. Again, what I've read is the barrel is more oval now, giving you more headroom. Get a custom heavy duty cover from covers & all. Get a thermoworks remote thermometer, like a smoke and you'll be happy. Do not expect the app to notify you on weekends and holidays - their server gets overwhelmed and you'll get them late or not at all. Oh and the stainless is 400 series.
Hope I didn't scare you out of it, even with its shortcomings you've got to pay more than double for a better grill.

 

[Bigbux58]

Nope. It's about a 50/50 love hate thing, but that's because of the model. I bought the newest, shiny-est one they made. All stainless. The design is different than the other ones they have. They discontinued the 1070, I guess due to issues with the design.
I would go with 1100 - I've heard there's more headroom for the second grate, meaning it's easier to put shoulders and such in there. Also, if you just compare pictures on amazon of the two grills it really looks like it. Again, what I've read is the barrel is more oval now, giving you more headroom. Get a custom heavy duty cover from covers & all. Get a thermoworks remote thermometer, like a smoke and you'll be happy. Do not expect the app to notify you on weekends and holidays - their server gets overwhelmed and you'll get them late or not at all. Oh and the stainless is 400 series.
Hope I didn't scare you out of it, even with its shortcomings you've got to pay more than double for a better grill.

Ok thank you! I have been all over the place from camp chef, Recteq, grilla, Weber. Etc. You name it. Its kinda driving me crazy. lol I like the grillas but it’s kinda small for the money. Seems like people that have Recteqs are in a cult so I figured they must love them. lol

 

[SmokeOCD]

Seems like people that have Recteqs are in a cult so I figured they must love them. lol

Yep. Don't bother with the facebook group, you're not allowed to say anything negative there. Look for the other recteq forum that is its own website.
Not as active as this site, but lots of good recteq specific info.

 

[Bigbux58]

Yep. Don't bother with the facebook group, you're not allowed to say anything negative there. Look for the other recteq forum that is its own website.
Not as active as this site, but lots of good recteq specific info.

Great. Thank you for all your help

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Rec-Tec is a cult...that "doot doot doot, rec tec life" jingle from the company is cringy and embarrassing. I bought the Rec Tec BFG when it first came out and had nothing but problems. I'd set it to 250° and it would be cooking closer to 350-375°.

I'll give Rec-Tec credit in one area : they were very good when it came to me returning the cooker. After 2 weeks of them trying to help me fix it, I told them I wanted to return it. They had a truck pick it up that afternoon, and I had my money back within 24 hours.

Personally I'd go with Grilla Grills if you want a good cooker on a budget. Fantastic people over there and their customer service is top notch.

 

[Bigbux58]

Rec-Tec is a cult...that "doot doot doot, rec tec life" jingle from the company is cringy and embarrassing. I bought the Rec Tec BFG when it first came out and had nothing but problems. I'd set it to 250° and it would be cooking closer to 350-375°.

I'll give Rec-Tec credit in one area : they were very good when it came to me returning the cooker. After 2 weeks of them trying to help me fix it, I told them I wanted to return it. They had a truck pick it up that afternoon, and I had my money back within 24 hours.

Personally I'd go with Grilla Grills if you want a good cooker on a budget. Fantastic people over there and their customer service is top notch.

Ok thanks. Yeah, grillas seem good. Just wish they had a little bit bigger silverback style one.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Ok thanks. Yeah, grillas seem good. Just wish they had a little bit bigger silverback style one.

When I was running a BBQ food truck a few years back I kept waiting on GrillaGrills to make a larger cooker...instead they came out with the Chimp. haha

I can whole heartedly agree with you, though I will say I've seen a lot of people load up that Silverback and still have pretty good results.

Edit : their Mammoth cooker just came out and that can hold a very large amount of food for a small footprint.

 

[larry4406]

I have a RT1250 with competition cart and cold smoke box. I have had it almost 13 months now. I used to have Masterbuilt cabinet style electric smoker which uses wood chips. We also have an old New Braunfels offset smoker.



Things I like:

• The temperature control has been rock solid for me.
• The App works reasonably well. I have not experienced a server overwhelm issue and failure to notify that was alluded to.
• The hopper holds 40 pounds of pellets and allegedly will burn for near 40 hours non-stop. My longest cooks have been 22-23 hours so the pellet capacity is a bit overkill
• Unit is well made and quite robust.
• I am glad I upgraded to the competition cart. The smoker stays in my garage and gets wheeled out to the patio for cooks. I am certain that the standard cart with its small wheels would not have held up well.
• Customer service has been top notch.

Things I don't like:

• The App has issues for overnight cooks. It controls temperature and monitors the cook just fine, but the graphing function won't continue past midnight. Doesn't matter if its a weeknight or weekend.
• Right or wrong, I use a large rectangular cast iron water pan (like a lasagna pan) on the lower grate and cook on the upper grate. I wish there was more head room between the upper grate and the barrel. Large pork butts hit the the top of the barrel and whole chickens won't fit (need to spatchcock them). Would be nice to be able to lower the upper grate some.
• I still have all the new legs and wheels unused from the standard cart. These parts are useless when you upgrade to the competition cart - no either or option. Would be nice if they sold a conversion table top to convert this into an accessory cart (there are after market and homebrew options)
• The competition cart has a huge void within that should be made into storage
• Pellet change-out is not easy and it does not have a dump. You have to manually scoop them all out. I am not a pellet geek so I run what I have.
• Cleaning is a bit of a pain having to remove the grates, the grease tray, and the deflector and then vacuum out. I think this is common to most pellet smokers.

I don't do facebook. I do browse the recteqforum occasionally as an unregistered guest. The whole recteq family, blah blah blah is annoying.


All in all, I have been pleased with it. That said, if I had known about the Lone Star Grillz pellet smokers I might have gone that way.

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

I have the RecTec 590 (it's the same cooking chamber as the 1070 but it's not all stainless and no cabinet underneath) and have been cooking on it for over 3 1/2 years. I have a buddy who has the same cooker and been cooking for 4 years. Neither one of us have had any troubles with the cooker. It holds temps rock solid. It is not a super tall cooker, but I'd say its average for what I have seen from most pellet grills. I have to competition cart too and it is definitely worth the money (especially if you move it through grass and other terrains).
It is definitely not a perfect cooker, haven't heard of any. If you turn it up above 300* the middle is going to be warmer than both sides (regardless of what they try to tell you). There is no pellet dump (not that big of a deal in my eyes). It is definitely a great cooker and I would not hesitate to buy again. With that being said--everything I have heard on here about Grilla grills seems they are a great cooker as well. I haven't heard hardly any negativity about them. In all honesty I think RecTec and Grilla have kind of separated themselves as the best middle of the road cost pellet grills (I'm cheap so anything over like 1500 is super expensive pellet grill even though I know they go as high as like 4-5k with some).

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Nope. It's about a 50/50 love hate thing, but that's because of the model. I bought the newest, shiny-est one they made. All stainless. The design is different than the other ones they have. They discontinued the 1070, I guess due to issues with the design.
I would go with 1100 - I've heard there's more headroom for the second grate, meaning it's easier to put shoulders and such in there. Also, if you just compare pictures on amazon of the two grills it really looks like it. Again, what I've read is the barrel is more oval now, giving you more headroom. Get a custom heavy duty cover from covers & all. Get a thermoworks remote thermometer, like a smoke and you'll be happy. Do not expect the app to notify you on weekends and holidays - their server gets overwhelmed and you'll get them late or not at all. Oh and the stainless is 400 series.
Hope I didn't scare you out of it, even with its shortcomings you've got to pay more than double for a better grill.

When the 1070 came out it was such a beautiful grill. I asked myself how the all stainless steel would hold up to all the grease and grime. I know the stainless parts of my cook chamber get nasty. The 1070 is a beautiful grill though especially with the rolling cabinet. What do you think about the hopper being in front of the cooker? Does it cause the hopper to get hot?

 

[Bigbux58]

I have a RT1250 with competition cart and cold smoke box. I have had it almost 13 months now. I used to have Masterbuilt cabinet style electric smoker which uses wood chips. We also have an old New Braunfels offset smoker.



Things I like:

• The temperature control has been rock solid for me.
• The App works reasonably well. I have not experienced a server overwhelm issue and failure to notify that was alluded to.
• The hopper holds 40 pounds of pellets and allegedly will burn for near 40 hours non-stop. My longest cooks have been 22-23 hours so the pellet capacity is a bit overkill
• Unit is well made and quite robust.
• I am glad I upgraded to the competition cart. The smoker stays in my garage and gets wheeled out to the patio for cooks. I am certain that the standard cart with its small wheels would not have held up well.
• Customer service has been top notch.

Things I don't like:

• The App has issues for overnight cooks. It controls temperature and monitors the cook just fine, but the graphing function won't continue past midnight. Doesn't matter if its a weeknight or weekend.
• Right or wrong, I use a large rectangular cast iron water pan (like a lasagna pan) on the lower grate and cook on the upper grate. I wish there was more head room between the upper grate and the barrel. Large pork butts hit the the top of the barrel and whole chickens won't fit (need to spatchcock them). Would be nice to be able to lower the upper grate some.
• I still have all the new legs and wheels unused from the standard cart. These parts are useless when you upgrade to the competition cart - no either or option. Would be nice if they sold a conversion table top to convert this into an accessory cart (there are after market and homebrew options)
• The competition cart has a huge void within that should be made into storage
• Pellet change-out is not easy and it does not have a dump. You have to manually scoop them all out. I am not a pellet geek so I run what I have.
• Cleaning is a bit of a pain having to remove the grates, the grease tray, and the deflector and then vacuum out. I think this is common to most pellet smokers.

I don't do facebook. I do browse the recteqforum occasionally as an unregistered guest. The whole recteq family, blah blah blah is annoying.


All in all, I have been pleased with it. That said, if I had known about the Lone Star Grillz pellet smokers I might have gone that way.

Ok thank you. So you think the comp cart is worth it? I just saw they are running a sale on recteqs. A 1250 with comp cart is like $1350. 30% off.

 

[Bigbux58]

I have a RT1250 with competition cart and cold smoke box. I have had it almost 13 months now. I used to have Masterbuilt cabinet style electric smoker which uses wood chips. We also have an old New Braunfels offset smoker.



Things I like:

• The temperature control has been rock solid for me.
• The App works reasonably well. I have not experienced a server overwhelm issue and failure to notify that was alluded to.
• The hopper holds 40 pounds of pellets and allegedly will burn for near 40 hours non-stop. My longest cooks have been 22-23 hours so the pellet capacity is a bit overkill
• Unit is well made and quite robust.
• I am glad I upgraded to the competition cart. The smoker stays in my garage and gets wheeled out to the patio for cooks. I am certain that the standard cart with its small wheels would not have held up well.
• Customer service has been top notch.

Things I don't like:

• The App has issues for overnight cooks. It controls temperature and monitors the cook just fine, but the graphing function won't continue past midnight. Doesn't matter if its a weeknight or weekend.
• Right or wrong, I use a large rectangular cast iron water pan (like a lasagna pan) on the lower grate and cook on the upper grate. I wish there was more head room between the upper grate and the barrel. Large pork butts hit the the top of the barrel and whole chickens won't fit (need to spatchcock them). Would be nice to be able to lower the upper grate some.
• I still have all the new legs and wheels unused from the standard cart. These parts are useless when you upgrade to the competition cart - no either or option. Would be nice if they sold a conversion table top to convert this into an accessory cart (there are after market and homebrew options)
• The competition cart has a huge void within that should be made into storage
• Pellet change-out is not easy and it does not have a dump. You have to manually scoop them all out. I am not a pellet geek so I run what I have.
• Cleaning is a bit of a pain having to remove the grates, the grease tray, and the deflector and then vacuum out. I think this is common to most pellet smokers.

I don't do facebook. I do browse the recteqforum occasionally as an unregistered guest. The whole recteq family, blah blah blah is annoying.


All in all, I have been pleased with it. That said, if I had known about the Lone Star Grillz pellet smokers I might have gone that way.

Also, I love the lone star. But when I told the wife it would cost $600 to ship. That was off the list. lol

 

[AClarke44]

I have the RT-700. I really like mine. It’s the cooker I use most now. I’d get the RT-1250 if I were in your position.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[SmokeOCD]

When the 1070 came out it was such a beautiful grill. I asked myself how the all stainless steel would hold up to all the grease and grime. I know the stainless parts of my cook chamber get nasty. The 1070 is a beautiful grill though especially with the rolling cabinet. What do you think about the hopper being in front of the cooker? Does it cause the hopper to get hot?

Zep grill spray twice a year (spring/fall) keeps it pretty nice. The hopper doesn't get hot, but the cover/shelf to the hopper does. Don't put your beer on there. I love it for loading/unloading the grill and I didn't have to pay extra like the other models. I usually just wet wipe the shelf after a cook and it comes clean, it's holding up well in that regard. The inside looks pretty decent because I make pizza a few times a year and anything caught on the inside flakes off pretty easily and then I can just vacuum it out.

1070 vs 590 - I may have mentioned it, but the internal difference is my firepot is flush to the floor. Rain gets in the barrel and seeks the lowest point, igniter gets wet, pops the circuit. Eventually the igniter gives out and I call for a warranty replacement. So if I lived in a drier state, I'd probably be giving the 1070 5 stars.

 

[larry4406]

Ok thank you. So you think the comp cart is worth it? I just saw they are running a sale on recteqs. A 1250 with comp cart is like $1350. 30% off.

If that is true for the 1250 with competition cart, that is a steal and you should hit the buy it now button!

I paid $2,149.67 13 months ago for the RT1250 and competition cart.

The comp cart is very robust. The spindly legs on the standard cart I am certain would not hold up to the bumps to/from my garage and patio. I think the standard legs/cart are basically put me here and don't move me kind of legs.

 

[jham0077]

Zep grill spray twice a year (spring/fall) keeps it pretty nice. The hopper doesn't get hot, but the cover/shelf to the hopper does. Don't put your beer on there. I love it for loading/unloading the grill and I didn't have to pay extra like the other models. I usually just wet wipe the shelf after a cook and it comes clean, it's holding up well in that regard. The inside looks pretty decent because I make pizza a few times a year and anything caught on the inside flakes off pretty easily and then I can just vacuum it out.

1070 vs 590 - I may have mentioned it, but the internal difference is my firepot is flush to the floor. Rain gets in the barrel and seeks the lowest point, igniter gets wet, pops the circuit. Eventually the igniter gives out and I call for a warranty replacement. So if I lived in a drier state, I'd probably be giving the 1070 5 stars.

I have a 590 and also had a water issue. It would saturate the pellets in the auger. I took the hopper off and ran a bead of high heat caulk in an arch over the trough. I haven't had a problem since. I do what I can to keep it covered but I can't cover it hot or control the rain.

 

[larry4406]

I debated the 1070 vs the 1250.

I like the 1070's front hopper vs the rear hopper on the 1250. I was concerned that the 1070 was relatively new and my have some teething problems.

I went with the 1250 since my brother in law has one about 3 years now and he upgraded from a 700 that he had for 2-3 years.