Another Is It Worth It Question

Now I have to research the grill grates.... :unsure:

Grill Grates are nice but if you have a flattop that works also and even better for full searing. The grates will get you looks or true sear so they are nice to have. Once you realize how good they work you will want a full flattop. Well, that is what I found anyway 😉. Most of all Enjoy!
 
Skip the grill grates. Get a flattop. Much more versatile. I got a little 17” Blackstone. It’s just my wife and I so plenty big. If cooking for more than two, get a bigger size for sure.
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I am very happy with my new 1250. Other than probe issues in the graph, which I have no need for anyway, the app had been fine. Coming from a stick burner which required much more attention (no apps or alerts to be concerned about) the ease of using the RT is awesome. My last two briskets have been absolutely fantastic and dare I say the easiest to make.

I am also very impressed with build quality. If I'm going to pay for an item, especially the cost of the R.T.'s, I expect a quality grill. So far, I am far from disappointed. At this time I feel the same about the 1250 as I did when I got my Weber gas grill 18 years ago. (It's still going strong)
I wish I could say the same for briskets. I still have to use my stick burner to get the smoke flavor I'm after and that the people that eat it like.
 
I never relied on a notification telling me when my cook is done. I'm way to OCD to do that LOL.
I resemble that last remark! :LOL:

Notifications kind of annoy me; all I care about is that my temps are steady.

I've had my 590 for a little over a year, use it almost every weekend and have zero complaints.
 
Thank you all for the thoughtful insights! Great discussion and I will go for the RT-590.

Now I have to research the grill grates.... :unsure:
For what it's worth, I bought the grill grates when I got my 590 last year. I've used them once.

To me, they look good on paper, but not worth the $ nor the effort of using them.

Most weekends I have both my RT and Weber Kettle going; if/when it's time to sear, things go in the Kettle.

The guys above 👆 suggested a flattop....now we're talkin'! That's next on my list.

Good luck.
 
I think that their products are absolutely worth the money. We are using ours even more frequently than we had imagined. I do have a few thoughts about the app. Most of the issues that I've seen seem to be a result of using amateur developers, otherwise many of these simple things would have been fixed by now.

  • Multiple notifications while dialing in the set temperature are silly. The app should not notify until temp setting has been static for 5 seconds or so. This is a minor annoyance, but should be fixed.
  • Same issue when setting alert temperature on probes.
  • All temperature settings should allow direct numeric entry and not rely on finicky sliders.
  • ON/OFF control needs to go back to a slider, not just a button. It's too easy to turn the smoker off when you put your phone in your pocket.
  • Some users have reported delayed or no notifications during holidays. I've personally only seen this on a couple of occasions, and it wasn't a holiday.
  • *** The main point that I want to make is this *** All temperature readings, (Set, Actual and Probes) have always been spot-on and in real-time for me. Even when I've had a delayed notification, the temps displayed in the app have ALWAYS matched what the display says on the smoker itself. Make a habit of glancing at the app once in a while and don't fully trust the notifications, you'll be fine.
I agree with everything you said right up until the end. It's not always convenient to be manually checking temperatures. A great example is when I do longer overnight cooks and need an alarm to wake me to wrap or remove at a set temperature. I can hear the other keyboard commandos firing up their keyboards to tell me to spend more money and buy a 3rd party device but that's not the point. The point is that I shouldn't have to. The device I already paid good money for should do this for me since it was in the looong list of features they sold me on to buy it in the first place. You're right though, this is amateur hour in terms of what RT is doing with this app experience.

For those that tried to blame people's home WiFi, I've got the latest Ubiquiti UniFi gear with pro-sumer access points all over and 100% easily to both the smoker location and anywhere I'm using my mobile phone. That problem isn't on my end and that I can guarantee you.

For me, if I had to do over again and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy another one.

It was pure bliss on the front end and I was sold after much research and plenty of experience with past smokers. I even brought RT a lot of business from my recommendation based on my personal experience. Shortly after the honeymoon phase though RT dropped the ball on customer support in terms of their app in a big way. Not sure why people insist on separating customer service from the yugely broken app because they are one and the same. RT just needs to fix it. No more excuses. It just needs to work.
 
I didn’t buy the grill for earth shattering tech.

I bought the grill for the build quality, warranty, and customer service.

The app will continue to evolve, all apps do. So to say I wouldn’t buy the grill based on the current status of their app, won’t ever say that.
 
I understand where Ostrichsak is coming from, but the app feature was not on my list of must haves. I had my grilling thermometer and it's app before I bought the RT, so I use that instead of the RT app.
 
I agree with everything you said right up until the end. It's not always convenient to be manually checking temperatures. A great example is when I do longer overnight cooks and need an alarm to wake me to wrap or remove at a set temperature. I can hear the other keyboard commandos firing up their keyboards to tell me to spend more money and buy a 3rd party device but that's not the point. The point is that I shouldn't have to. The device I already paid good money for should do this for me since it was in the looong list of features they sold me on to buy it in the first place. You're right though, this is amateur hour in terms of what RT is doing with this app experience.

For those that tried to blame people's home WiFi, I've got the latest Ubiquiti UniFi gear with pro-sumer access points all over and 100% easily to both the smoker location and anywhere I'm using my mobile phone. That problem isn't on my end and that I can guarantee you.

For me, if I had to do over again and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy another one.

It was pure bliss on the front end and I was sold after much research and plenty of experience with past smokers. I even brought RT a lot of business from my recommendation based on my personal experience. Shortly after the honeymoon phase though RT dropped the ball on customer support in terms of their app in a big way. Not sure why people insist on separating customer service from the yugely broken app because they are one and the same. RT just needs to fix it. No more excuses. It just needs to work.
south park beat a dead horse GIF
 
I wish I could say the same for briskets. I still have to use my stick burner to get the smoke flavor I'm after and that the people that eat it like.
I also prefer stick burner smoke. I keep my 1250 at 225 the entire time and have been toying with smoke tubes with chips and pellets. Last cook I put hickory chunks on the cast iron heat diffuser. That seems to get decent results.
 
I also prefer stick burner smoke. I keep my 1250 at 225 the entire time and have been toying with smoke tubes with chips and pellets. Last cook I put hickory chunks on the cast iron heat diffuser. That seems to get decent results.
How many hickory chunks are you using and what size approx? That’s a good idea, hickory or mesquite will sure add the smoke, just wondering what a good amount is so it doesn’t flame up
 
How many hickory chunks are you using and what size approx? That’s a good idea, hickory or mesquite will sure add the smoke, just wondering what a good amount is so it doesn’t flame up
I keep them about a 1/2 inch in from sides. You should see slight discoloration on diffuser that indicates where the heat is concentrated. I fit what I can into that area, the big limiting factor is the gap between diffuser and the drip pan. It isn't much. At 225 you may still find some of it didn't smolder, let alone flame up.
 
I wonder if the old put chips in foil, poke some holes in it and placing that on the diffuser will increase smoke. You'd certainly be restricting airflow to the chips, so as long as they can smolder, it should work.

While satisfied with the amount of smoke I am getting, I might do that for :poop: and giggles to see how it works.
 
I also prefer stick burner smoke. I keep my 1250 at 225 the entire time and have been toying with smoke tubes with chips and pellets. Last cook I put hickory chunks on the cast iron heat diffuser. That seems to get decent results.
I've tried those and it wasn't enough for me. I'm used to 3 logs going for 18+ hours.
 
Like several have stated above, I DID NOT buy the RECTEQ for the app! My son in law had a Traeger and the temperature varied by +- 20 degrees and in my honest opinion it was cheaply built! My 700 keeps the temps within +-5 degrees or less on all cooks. The build quality is excellent, customer service is outstanding, and I love the 6 year warranty! I agree with Pungo that the hundreds of RT owners out there are loving their grills and not posting on this forum. My dad always told me about the 10% rule, which is no matter what, 10% if the people out there that will never be happy and constantly complain! If you don't like the app there are very inexpensive alternatives!
 
Hello. I am new to this forum and really appreciate the honest talk about RECTEQ grills here. You are fans but are not shy about calling out shortcomings.

I had a Traeger from Costco but returned it because of poor temperature control. I have been researching for a new one (starting to drive myself crazy!) and am thinking a RT is the best value for my price point; probably the RT-590. We are empty nesters and not heavy users (3-5 times a month), but I am looking for a quality unit.

I have two reservations. First, I am disappointed on how RT hides the negative reviews. If they really are that good, they can handle some negative comments. Nothing has only 4- and 5-star reviews. To me, it shows a lack of integrity and makes me wonder what else they are hiding. That gives me pause. However, I feel like I have read enough owner feedback in the forums that I believe it is a good product.

Secondly, and more importantly, is the poor app function. I have read many accounts of too many or too few notifications, and consistent non-functioning on holiday weekends. That is a serious flaw because you can never know if you can trust your grill or not. I guess I could get a third-party temperature probe as a work around, but I hate to do that.

Questions: Is the RT worth it? How big of a deal is the poor app function?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
As far as the reviews, it's pretty standard for websites to show positive feedback to encourage shoppers to buy. However, I agree with you that in this case, it's a bit deceptive as it gives the appearance of inclusion of all reviews. I've submitted a three-star review for the RT-700 (on the basis of the subpar app, and to test your theory). We'll see if it shows up. TBH, if the worst thing they do is not show bad reviews on their website, I'd say they're doing pretty well. It's not ideal from our perspective, and I appreciate that it takes away from their credibility, but from their perspective many of the reviews are probably unfair/misleading, and ultimately their website is a marketing tool to sell products, not a place to show unfiltered complaints.

As far as the app goes, that's the only real problem I've had. The old version worked well enough, with some minor kinks, but was obviously built cheaply by the lowest bidder. The new version looks much nicer, and the main problem I have with it so far is that it's difficult to set the temp with precision, due to the new method of dragging the temp over. I also dislike how their recipes section is just a browser to the website, instead of building it natively.
Overall the app is fine. It's not as good as Traeger's, but RT beats them in every other way that matters.

The only other thing I didn't like, specifically for my RT-700, was that it didn't include an interior shelf or exterior folding shelf. That seemed like a cheap money-grab on their part. To make things worse, the way the interior shelves you have to buy separately work is that they just stand in there on two wide legs, taking up valuable room below. To their credit, they've resolved all of this and more in the new 1250.

Having said all that, I'd trust the company to stand by their products. They're growing, but still seem to have that good small business personal feel to them. Most people on this forum have had nothing but great experiences dealing with the company, and since this is a third party website, you're getting an unfiltered look at honest reviews here.

You can also check out their Amazon reviews, which they can't filter. https://smile.amazon.com/REC-TEC-Gr...07BKMSJ6X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 and their BBB complaints: https://www.bbb.org/us/ga/martinez/profile/bbq-supplies/recteq-0743-31836/complaints
 
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