Has Anyone Owned Traeger?

Roddyboy

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I’m torn between Traeger, it’s history, and the Pro 575 and wondering if anyone thought the same way but decided to buy Recteq? Why?
 
I’ve had my smokers now for about a year and I have nothing but good things to say. absolutely solid build quality holds consistent temperatures and just looks amazing i’ve had no issues with either of my Recteq’s ... I have never owned a Traeger I went straight to the Recteq. I bought a trailblazer first and then went to the Bull a few months later once I realized the build quality of these machines... I have been researching these things for a little over a year and have several friends with Traeger‘s and Green Mountain grill‘s and one with a PitBoss. In the course of roughly 2 years every single one of them have had issues with holding temperatures flame outs grease fires and poor build quality... and the kicker for me was without a doubt the customer service. these guys are the best in the business when it comes to customer service I have called with a question and hung up before I left a message and they called back “me” because they missed my call! Now that is quality customer service! My opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it which is nothing, but this has been my honest experience with the Recteq product and Family. 100% I would recommend going with Recteq over Traeger.

good luck with your decision making! and post your first cook on here once you’ve decided!
 
I recently went through this myself. I was so ready to buy a Traeger that I went to 4 different Costco’s looking for the one I wanted in stock. And I’m so glad they were all out of stock because it forced me back to the drawing board and I bought a 590.
The T’s get some good reviews. And people have had many of them for 10+ years and they still work great. But I also read a lot of reviews about something changing at some point in their quality. The newer ones just seem to have more issues and not last as long. That pushed me away from looking at the T’s and into buying the RT. It’s been less than a month, but I’m really happy with my purchase.
 
I recently went through this myself. I was so ready to buy a Traeger that I went to 4 different Costco’s looking for the one I wanted in stock. And I’m so glad they were all out of stock because it forced me back to the drawing board and I bought a 590.
The T’s get some good reviews. And people have had many of them for 10+ years and they still work great. But I also read a lot of reviews about something changing at some point in their quality. The newer ones just seem to have more issues and not last as long. That pushed me away from looking at the T’s and into buying the RT. It’s been less than a month, but I’m really happy with my purchase.
Welcome and congrats on the RT590, your going to love it.
 
I bought a Treager, used it for a week, nothing but issues, customer service was horrible Treager got taken back by Saturday of the same week...

Bought a RT and have been super happy with it and customer service is AWESOME!

Trust me and and the hundreds of members on here you'll be happy you got an RT
 
I was gifted a small new Traeger and used it for ten months. Many good meals were smoked on it. That said, I went through four controllers and RTDs (and P adjustments) in the attempt to correct wide temperature swings. I finally realized despite attempts to improve temperature control, this Traeger would simply require more hands-on attention to smoke a meal. More expensive (or possibly older) Traegers may not have these temperature swings - I don't really know. I've now smoked salmon, steelhead, plate ribs, chicken and vegetables on my RT-590 and the temperatures have been steady throughout the cook. I am pleased with the 590 construction and materials and PID controller.
 
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I had a used traeger and after 2 different controllers gave it away and bought my 340. After a short time I started having temp swings with the 340 and talked to RT and they wanted a pic of the pellets I was using and the brand. I was using the traeger pellets I already had and they sent me a free 40lb bag of their pellets and it's been smooth sailing ever since. They said the treager pellets were a little long and could cause auger problems causing erratic feed. I just started using pit boss pellets recommended by our son who has had a 700 for several yrs and they seem to work well for me.
 
I bought a new 070 traeger in in 2003 wide temp swings plus a pellet hog. Had it for about seven years the bottom was rusting. It was about the size of the rt 700 that i own now. The rt 700 that i have now is by far the best grill i have owned.
The rt is the third different grill i have owned since 2003.
 
Today I put my almost 4 1/2 year old Traeger out to the garbage. I have a RT-700 coming in the next day or two and use the Traeger 1 last time last night. Ever since the 2nd year, the temps go all over the place. I got flare ups, and inconsistent results. I have made a number of good things with it over the last few years but it was my first pellet grill (a small one, I think the size up from the Tailgater) and I knew that in a number of years I'd go big.
Another thing is the powder coated bottom and side are nearly so thin I knew that soon it would be a hole. I felt it not safe enough to give away and though I could have used it for another 6 months, I figured it's time to upgrade.
 
I owned and recently gifted my 5 year old Traeger BBQ 07E "Elite" to one of my kids. Ordered and received a Bull RT-700 in September. After many cooks on the Traeger and gaining extensive experience, I had it down for the most part. Constantly changing the P-Settings based on ambient temperature to get the temps down around optimum smoke levels. I hated that I couldn't set it at 180, 225 or 250 on the controller. It either ran hot or had huge temp swings. I also didn't like that on the upper end it was either at 375 or max. What about 400 or 425. The Bull is awesome. If I want 225 or 400 or 180, I get what I want. Knowing all of that, I would recommend you steer towards Recteq and avoid the Traeger frustrations.

(edited to reflect correct Traeger model)
 
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Similar experience to the others. I bought a Traeger at a Costco road show. I had problems with HUGE temp swings and when I called Traeger "customer service" not only were they not helpful, they were downright RUDE. I won't stand for that, I packed it back to Costco and read some "glowing" reviews for RecTec (not RecTeq) customer service. I value customer service right up there with the quality of the item. So, 2 years ago, I ordered a 680 and couldn't be happier.
 
I have lots of friends and coworkers with Traegers that are very happy with their purchases. But make sure you are doing a fair comparison.

Comparing the RecTeqs to Traeger Pro series is not an accurate comparison. The Pro series is their entry level grill. It's there to hit a price point. RecTeq is competing against the Ironwood and Timberline series of Traegers. Once I worked through that comparison, I felt that the RecTeqs were a better grill at a lower price.
 
I've had several friends with Traeger. They like them a lot. One of them cooks dinner every night. They haven't had any problems that I know of. I spent time looking at the Traeger, but chose the RT590 because of the stainless construction & PID temp controller. I had too many earlier (gas) grills that rusted out after a couple of seasons. Gave my son-in-law a RT340 and he really likes that as well.

We used a wood fired grill made of concrete with a heavy cast iron grate on the farm. Had some great cookouts. After 50 years, it's still standing. But pretty hard to transport (probably weighed 1000 pounds). However if you want reliability ........
 
The issue I had with my Traeger tailgater was that after a while my fire would give out and fire pot would flood with pellets. What I liked most about pellet smokes was that I can have long cooks and still get sleep. I wasn't able to rest every time I used Traeger overnight. And it was a pain to let it cool enough to take apart and vacuum pellets out and restart. This was enough for me to go with RT after extensive research. I haven't had it for more than a year yet, but so far it's been easy and consistent
 
I’m torn between Traeger, it’s history, and the Pro 575 and wondering if anyone thought the same way but decided to buy Recteq? Why?
About three years ago I purchased a Traeger grill. After numerous calls to Treager and doing what they suggested to make the Trager stabilize the temperature I had had enough. I requested a new controller and probe which they refused to send to me. When I told them I wanted to return the grill they said it was out of warranty. I only had the grill for about six months. Since I had purchased the grill at Costco I took it back to Costco and got my purchase price back. Now I have The Bull and it works like advertised.
 
I started with a Traeger pro22.
I immediately put a Savannah Stoker control on it. It ran pretty good, but I was always messing with the setting on the control. After all the fiddling, I gave the controller to my neighbor and ran the stock controller 6 more months. The temp swings are a pain, but once you get dialed in on what the grill does, most all of the food it made was excellent.
This spring I bought a 590, it makes the same food, less temp swing drama. Better buy dollar for dollar compared to the traeger.

Pellet grills basically all do the same thing. Your practice and commitment to whichever grill you buy is a large portion of your success. Flavor is the same.
 
Build Quality: I own the RT-700 and the build quality is clearly superior to the Traeger, which I have checked out on numerous occasions at Costco (models ranging from $600 through $1200). Generally, the RecTeq will cost you around $100-$200 more (after factoring in the accessories that are included with the Traeger), but it's worth it. Search YouTube for "Rec Teq vs. Traeger" videos.

Customer Service: When I was doing research on the Traeger I came across numerous reports of the controller failing and customer service not backing up their product, or replacement controllers being back-ordered for weeks. In my experience, Recteq customer service has been top-notch. I had a small issue with the handle on the drain bucket and they shipped me a new one right away.

Cool Factor: Thr RT-700 Bull looks badass and I get a lot of compliments on it. Everyone who sees it wants one. Can't say the same for the Traeger. At the end of the day, it's a lifestyle and you need to have fun with it!
 
@Roddyboy ive owned 2 traegers both were purchased before the original owner sold the company and while they were still being made here. The build quality was better on the original ones. The controllers still fluctuated quite a bit though. The big issue I had was flameouts and customer service.
 

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