Blasphemy

Buckeye1

Well-known member
Messages
625
Grill(s) owned
  1. Trailblazer
  2. Bullseye
I know there are a lot of cult followers of the Bullseye, and I'll probably get blacklisted for my comments but here goes anyhow.

The grill serves a niche, however I don't feel its a primary cooker and here's why:
Takes for ever to get to temp compared to my Trailblazer
If you fill about the safety grate with pellets, the auger struggles.
It does not hold temp near as well as my trailblazer( that's ok because I am not using it for long cooks).
Flimsy built, dome gets hot to touch at 225


The pros
Nice and open for flipping burgers and chicken.
Gets really hot.

I have not figured our how to cook a brat or hot dog on it. I cannot get that nice char.
 
Hello Buckeye1, I own 2 bullseyes an original and a Beta, both hold temperature just as stabile as my 700 Bull and I find both will achieve 500 degrees from room temperature in under 8 minutes. I have sear kits in both which allow me to get those marks on Brats and hot dogs. The dome does get hot, but my 700 does too.
I keep my hoppers full of pellets and never have a problem.
Have you contacted support? They really are the best at helping us owners out of situations.
Really, I enjoy my Bullseyes as my go to grills during the week. I just bought one at a recent sale for a friend and he doses boston Butt and spatchcock chicken and ribs regularay.

I hope you can figure out what is going on.
Your friend and fellow RecTec owner,
 
I know there are a lot of cult followers of the Bullseye, and I'll probably get blacklisted for my comments but here goes anyhow.

The grill serves a niche, however I don't feel its a primary cooker and here's why:
Takes for ever to get to temp compared to my Trailblazer
If you fill about the safety grate with pellets, the auger struggles.
It does not hold temp near as well as my trailblazer( that's ok because I am not using it for long cooks).
Flimsy built, dome gets hot to touch at 225


The pros
Nice and open for flipping burgers and chicken.
Gets really hot.

I have not figured our how to cook a brat or hot dog on it. I cannot get that nice char.

I also have a Bullseye and I agree with most of your comments about the grill.

It does get up to temp fast if you set it for a higher temp and then drop it down when it reaches the desired temp. For example set for 400, let it get to 225-230 and drop it down to 225.

I have not had any issues with a full hopper.

Getting it to hold temp on the controller seams to be easy, getting the ambient temperature in the smoker anywhere close to the controller temperature is a different story. The lid is hot because the controller set at 225F causes mine to get over 350F ambient air about 1" off the center of the grate. I am working on controller offsets now to see if this can be easily resolved. Raising the offset to 20 has helped a bit.

RecTeq customer service has been amazing, however I wish the darn thing didn't need so much assistance to get to work properly.

It is flimsy and the hinge is very problematic. Holes don't line up and spot welds pop.

Honestly I think this grill/smoker is a great concept, works well some of the time. However there are some major bugs and quality issues that need to be resolved. Hopefully sooner than later as I am almost wishing I got something else because of all the issues.
 
Mike, I have been cranking it up like you mentioned to get it up to temp. I never thought of checking actual temp vs read out. I wonder if probe location is the issue. I don't have an aftermarket probe to test temp at grates.

Like I mentioned this is a niche product, much like a Webber kettle grill. It can be a smoker just not a great one. My uses are burgers, chicken, chicken wings, ECT. In other words the high heat or flip often items, maybe with a little smoke at the begining. For other things the Trailblazer kicks butt. I can do burgers and wings and stuff just tight room to flip stuff. You just have to have reasonable expectations up front.
 
I have the Beta and it is the best smoker I have used so far. I have no issues getting to any temp within a few minutes. Keep the vents and lip around the dome clean and you shouldn't have any issues. The feed rates can be adjusted and the probes can be calibrated. From what I have seen, most issues are a simple fix. The spot welds are shit and should be better. That is a manufacturing issue. There are a few things that they should have improved on, but missed the mark.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top