Posted last fall about pellet smokers ended up going with recteq. Had been planning on the rt 700. At the last minute switched to the rt 1070 with the idea we might put it in a counter down the road.

Initially it was great. Good enough that I didn't use anything else. Posted my big joe for sale, etc. Then in may it turned off during warm up. The cs was good. They told me to replace the fuse (didn't look blown, but whatever), not that. Sent me a controller. Not that. At that point I started troubleshooting more myself. Found the power cord had shorted/melted about 3 inches in the cabinet. Reported that and they sent me a new one. Replaced. Exact same thing happened in the same spot in one cook. Went and bought a cord at HD. Same thing in one cook.

The 1070 is a completely different design, and Imo, not a very good one, I noticed this from the start, but I still liked it. I am not sure what happened, but obviously there is a heat issue where the cord runs through the cabinet under the cooking box.

Emailed them again and said I was completely dissatisfied and not interested in messing with any more patches on something that is a fire/electricution hazard. That I wanted a refund or replacement in a different model. To my surprise they agreed immediately. Said they could not exchange for a different model, but would refund. I just have to mess with boxing it on a pallet.

So, point of the post.

Do I buy the 700 or 1250 that I had originally intended, knowing that the company has great customer service and that those are an obviously better design? Buy a Traeger or something else? Really don't want to spend more than around the 1300 I originally spent. So some of the boutique brands I have seen mentioned are out.

The most helpful that I can be is to tell you that my 590 that I bought last summer has worked perfectly and been hassle-free, all while sitting in my patio in swampy Houston in direct sunlight most of the day.

If i had to do it over again I'd go with a model that had an easy-to-use mechanism for dumping out ashes.

Had my Green Mountain over 5 years and had zero problems

I had a green mountain as my first pellet grill. Never had any issues for two years. A close friend I passed it on to three years ago says it still performs perfectly. Replaced the green mountain with a Yoder. It's the bomb!!! Would recommend either one depending on budget.

I'll have to say I have another friend with the a rectec and gives glowing reviews about their customer service. He only wishes he didn't have to keep hitting up customer service. Says the rectec is hell when it's well though.

I bought the Rectec RT680 years ago and love it. after a few years I upgraded the controller to the wifi version and had connectivity issues with it. Had it a year and it never worked correctly. I finally called the tech line and the guy asked me what the controller looked like. I told him and he said that it was an early version and they would send me a new one. I put it in and it works like a charm. Very pleased. I love the 40lb pellet hopper. If I fill it up before a brisket cook I can cook for 15 or more hours with no worry of running out of pellets.
The other upgrade I have made is the Smoke Daddy heat diffuser. Pellet grills can't seem to produce as rich a smoke flavor as stick burning offsets do. It replaces the original diffuser with a heavy gauge stainless one with perforated sleeves on each side that you load with wood splits or chunks. It really increases the amount of smoke flavor in the meat.
Rectec has the best warranty and customer service on the market. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
Smoke Daddy Heavy D: Pellet Grill Stick Burning Heat Diffuser

Huh, that's pretty interesting. Hadnt seen or heard of anything like this. I may have to pull the trigger on this. Unfortunately can't reload it.

Cooked a brisket using this?

I've cooked a couple of briskets and a few racks of ribs. It definitely increased the smoke flavor for me. Glad I bought it.

Just ordered one. That was my only "complaint" with the recteq (the lack of smoke), so hopefully this will solve that!

filthyfifthaggie77 said:

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I've cooked a couple of briskets and a few racks of ribs. It definitely increased the smoke flavor for me. Glad I bought it.

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Alright, so tried to use it, what's your lighting process?

Also seems to sit really high on a Pro 780 and interferes with the drip tray.

Doing my first smoke with it on the recteq today. Will report back

Well this set my grill on fire.

Can't say I'm very impressed with this thing.

Was at 265F and one of the logs ignited. Warped the drip pan, not sure if it destroyed the cooking grate.

Thankfully I was able to tear it apart and douse the log.

I haven't had that problem. I mainly use splits and occasionally chunks and cook at 225. I cut the spits to just fit in the sleeves. There is no need to light the splits as the heat from the burn pot will ignite the split. The Rectec app monitors the temperature of the grill as well as the probes and I have not seen any temperature spikes due to the splits catching fire. Sorry your experience was not a good one but I;m very pleased with mine.