One Year Later, Still No Solutions from RT on "Smart" Features (read: Notifications) We All Bought.

[JGW]

Any particular reason you switched? I switched many years ago just for stability. When my Android called different people than I dialed that was it for me .

Full disclaimer.. I am not a fanperson of either. Just a device to me.

My phone was getting kind of glitchy. Wasn't damaged, or even that old really, but started acting weird. My carrier was offering a $400 trade in on that phone for an iPhone. Really came down to overall cost.

I'm not in either camp. Like you said, it's just a device to me. Honestly, I considered just getting a phone.....you know, like a simple no texting, no apps, phone but they really don't offer anything like that anymore unless you want a jitterbug.

 

[JGW]

Ugg.. not going back there.. flushed 2 units years ago. Was time to just move on.

But the app works great, man. That's way more important than build quality, cook quality, etc.

 

[sdynak]

My phone was getting kind of glitchy. Wasn't damaged, or even that old really, but started acting weird. My carrier was offering a $400 trade in on that phone for an iPhone. Really came down to overall cost.

I'm not in either camp. Like you said, it's just a device to me. Honestly, I considered just getting a phone.....you know, like a simple no texting, no apps, phone but they really don't offer anything like that anymore unless you want a jitterbug.

Cool.. I wish at times I had 1 of each but for my needs that's just overkill. Just one of those things you need to work when it has to. Can't say my iphones have been 100% but no real issues other then when I run them over in the woods on my enduro.. Guess that one is on me

 

[LiquidCourage]

I have a Meater Block 4-Probe, and the agreement with the RecTeq probes and App has been very good. Battery life is sometimes an issue for the probes on long cooks like brisket, but I plug in via usb.
My issue with the RecTeq probes is that they sometimes go haywire and have to be unplugged several times.

 

[okie]

OK let me take a crack at this one. I have read many of your previous posts, I'm generally not one to apply the verbal beatdowns on this forum and I do think you have a valid concern. The notifications do not work on a consistent basis, in particular at times of high traffic. As to what needs to be done to fix it, that is where I join you in terms of expertise. If this were just an app fix, I imagine it would be easy to do. Your suspicion about back end capacity seems more likely.

As for where I place this particular shortcoming in the grand scheme of things, it is not something that bothers me too much. I bought my RT700 primarily for the build quality, ease of use and temperature control. The product has met or exceeded my expectations in those areas. I knew there was an app that allowed remote pit temperature monitoring and temperature changes. I was also aware of meat probes that would allow monitoring of internal temperature. I may or may not have considered the notification features, but that was not a big selling point for me. I keep an eye on the app, so I feel pretty comfortable with my own monitoring. I recall when you first posted, you had a couple of cooks go poorly, as you relied on notifications which failed. Had I been in your shoes, I might have a very different opinion.

I know some folks have said, "Talk to RT, as this forum is not monitored by them." I am pretty sure you did so, and were not satisfied that you were heard. While the issue you raised has still not been resolved, I hope you have been able to pull off some successful cooks without that feature working.

There is not much I can bring to the table regarding the technical solution to address your concern. The best I can offer is to ask the guys at RT in person later this year. My wife and I will be attending the academy class in November. That seems like a good place to bring this up and try to gain a better understanding of the problem. That is still many months away, so maybe we see an improvement sooner. "Yeah right" would be a fair response, so no offense taken.

I have the 590 also and a 380. While I have found the service outstanding and better than expected, I also found RT a bit pig headed about discussing some common complaints. i.e. 380 running too hot as set by factory. (But resolved by adjusting—against their advice). Sealing lid on 590 which they opposed as not nec(which I did anyhow with no problem). About only showing 4 and 5 star reviews ( which makes it hard to compare statistically with other brands.
In addition, I found the “new” version of the app less convenient than the previous one to use. But the unit itself and its reliability exceeds those issues.
Bottom line—they are a bit proud of themselves now with their great success , but I predict that they will come around on your issues. They will do so quietly IMO so as not to admit to error. ??

 

[Hamp]

Bought a Thermoworks Signals and never looked back. I purchased the 700 for its quality and its stability compared to other manufacturers. I suppose the communications portion of the pellet smoker had some influence on the purchase. I realized early on it was never going to do what I want so I moved on. The Thermoworks product would probably have been purchased anyway.

Not flaming your post at all. I am just happy with being able to move forward with a better solution than Recteq could have ever provided.

End result is I am using my 700 with impunity and enjoying it without any challenges. RT might suck in various areas of execution but I refuse to allow them to frustrate me.

My app installed easily and stays connected. My problem is with notifications as it is with most people. If you can’t trust the notifications they are useless. I monitor my cooks pretty closely so it’s not a big issue for me. My gripe is the lack of response from RT. I think if they are going to advertise it as a selling point it should work as advertised. If they cant or won’t fix it tell us so we can buy a system that is reliable. I would not be happy if I bought an expensive system and then they fix the app. I have a 590 and have had no other issues with it. And I have dealt with customer service about some questions I had and they were awesome. But I do have to take issue with the app situation.

 

[Partimewages]

I have an old 680 no app at that time. I had a controller issue and CS did me a solid and I upgraded the controller because it had wifi. Wifi had just been introduced. I don't remember any issues then. My take is this is an server overload issue that only presents itself when there is high traffic. My guess is the app and associated features are third party for RT and there's no in house support. These guys strike me as griller/smokers not IT people. I'm glad they are the former and that's why my 680 chuggs on after almost 9 years!
PS: If I'm going to buy another I'm not looking anywhere else.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Like most of you, I bought the RecTec for the build quality. The app was an afterthought. The fact that you can control temperature and view temperature remotely was a plus.

What bothers me about the app is that I have to back out of the control page and come back to it to get refreshed data. Same on the chart. This may be related to, or the crux of the notification issue. I dunno, I'm not an IT guy.

I do seem to get notifications since the last update (android). But they are single chime, disappear and I barely notice them.

If I'm running overnight, I want an over/under temperature continuous ALARM, not a single notification. So I use my Thermoworks Smoke monitor.

While running your pellet grill from work or the baseball game across town is a great parlor trick, the fact is its a device built with cheap motors and electronics, that has a number of potential failure modes, all of which involve fire. If you're going to do really remote control and monitoring, you might want to consider adding redundant monitoring with a second temperature monitor system and maybe a video system. ...and if it's completely unattended, definitely put it out where it won't burn down your house if it turns into a roman candle.

 

[Pops]

Yeah, Yeah, I have issues with the app too. I consider it icing on the cake. My 590 is rock solid and honestly it now works pretty well on our new spectrum network. The notifications are non-sensical, but honeslty I used my app to set temp and monitor IT. I do have a back up and Thermoworks has lots of options.
I do understand your frustration. I will just say that RT has really helped me up my game in cooking/grilling and I am thankful that such a grill exists that make it easy for me to cook. Is it perfect no, have they(RT) been there for me, 100%.
Lets not pole vault over mouse turds........

 

[Jim6820]

Lets not pole vault over mouse turds........

I love it! Very apt description of many of life’s truly insignificant issues.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Yeah, Yeah, I have issues with the app too. I consider it icing on the cake. My 590 is rock solid and honestly it now works pretty well on our new spectrum network. The notifications are non-sensical, but honeslty I used my app to set temp and monitor IT. I do have a back up and Thermoworks has lots of options.
I do understand your frustration. I will just say that RT has really helped me up my game in cooking/grilling and I am thankful that such a grill exists that make it easy for me to cook. Is it perfect no, have they(RT) been there for me, 100%.
Lets not pole vault over mouse turds........

I understand that we don't all agree nor do we have to. I was completely fine with this post up until the last sentence. We don't have to agree but ridiculing something that others have clearly stated is an important feature to them is a bit selfish. Does it hurt you to have functions working properly even if you personally don't use them yourself? I don't use the temperature chart but I also don't feel the need to go into threads where people are asking politely to have it fixed and disrespect them as if the problem is between their ears.

Not sure why others feel the need to act this way. It's incredibly disrespectful and serves zero functional purpose.

 

[Pops]

I understand that we don't all agree nor do we have to. I was completely fine with this post up until the last sentence. We don't have to agree but ridiculing something that others have clearly stated is an important feature to them is a bit selfish. Does it hurt you to have functions working properly even if you personally don't use them yourself? I don't use the temperature chart but I also don't feel the need to go into threads where people are asking politely to have it fixed and disrespect them as if the problem is between their ears.

Not sure why others feel the need to act this way. It's incredibly disrespectful and serves zero functional purpose.

I apologize if this was offensive to you, I certainly did not mean it that way. My last sentence was simply meant as a light hearted statement on the depth you went into on the app. If you read that as a bash, you might need to grow a pair. See now that might be an example of a bash.
Your quarrel is with RT not me!

 

[Ostrichsak]

I apologize if this was offensive to you, I certainly did not mean it that way. My last sentence was simply meant as a light hearted statement on the depth you went into on the app. If you read that as a bash, you might need to grow a pair. See now that might be an example of a bash.
Your quarrel is with RT not me!

My "quarrel" if that's what you want to call it is with anyone who shows up in a thread where others are respectfully discussing legitimate issues with a product that hasn't been addressed in over a year and proceeds to belittle the issue as if the people are the problem and need to get over it. Then, when the disrespect is pointed out to them politely, they double down with telling them to "grow a pair" which is also disrespectful and unprovoked and serves no functional purpose. Maybe you should just go on with enjoying your smoker for what it is since it meets your needs and not waste your time posting in threads that don't concern you since you seem to be unable to communicate in a respectful manner to others who have done nothing to you to provoke such disrespect.

 

[StefanieS]

New 1250 owner, took me a bit to get the app to connect to my wifi. I have Orbi750.
What finally worked for me:
I deleted the recteq app and reloaded it on my iPhone. I noticed low data mode popped up on my wifi connection. I turned it off and waaa laaa, it worked

 

[Ostrichsak]

New 1250 owner, took me a bit to get the app to connect to my wifi. I have Orbi750.
What finally worked for me:
I deleted the recteq app and reloaded it on my iPhone. I noticed low data mode popped up on my wifi connection. I turned it off and waaa laaa, it worked

Since I'm the OP of this post, I will address this: this thread wasn't created to discuss the complications with initial WiFi connection. I had no issues during initial s/u so that's not relevatnt to this conversation although I've seen LOTS of other posts that suggest that it is an overall issue even if "only" with consistency for user experience. Based on other experiences though I would guess the numerous issues I've seen with connectivity is also a firmware issue on their end. There are plenty of other conversations about that topic to indicate that their solution for this isn't user-friendly (at a minimum) and potentially problematic more than likely. As I didn't have issues I can't speak to that topic but I assume that this many posts about initial s/u and connectivity is more than just operator error as it's quite a bit more than I've seen from other forums of similar devices.

What I can speak to is how horrible this company is with their Smart/App/WiFi solution as a whole. In all of my attempts to get help from them they made it quite clear that it wasn't a priority to them during numerous attempts to convince me that it shouldn't be a priority to me either. Yes, this was their solution in a nutshell: you can still smoke so don't worry about those features we marketed that you paid for.

The good news is that I sold my RecTeq and made the move to a Grilla Grills Silverbac and I couldn't be happier. I knew on the front end that it only had one cook probe but at least GG didn't try to sell me a 2 or 4 probe s/u that fooled me into making a decision I wouldn't have otherwise. This is basically what RecTeq did by marketing features to me they could never deliver on. I was more than patient (nearly two years... who else would grant them this kind of leeway?) and communicative with them about the issue and they either didn't care to fix it or didn't know how. Either way is unacceptable.

Life is too short to deal with this level of incompetency though. Despite REALLY wanting that smoker to work, I moved on. Now I have a smoker with the same cooking performance (actually better with some of the features RT doesn't have) AND my app works as advertised. Never an issue. This is how ALL smart smokers should work and for RT to sell us a "smart" smoker at a premium price tag that is actually dumb is an insult.

I wish all of those who stay loyal the best of luck but this ship is clearly sinking as there's FAR too many options out there to stand up for a company who clearly doesn't care about you as a customer..

 

[C. Keeper]

Since I'm the OP of this post, I will address this: this thread wasn't created to discuss the complications with initial WiFi connection. I had no issues during initial s/u so that's not relevatnt to this conversation although I've seen LOTS of other posts that suggest that it is an overall issue even if "only" with consistency for user experience. Based on other experiences though I would guess the numerous issues I've seen with connectivity is also a firmware issue on their end. There are plenty of other conversations about that topic to indicate that their solution for this isn't user-friendly (at a minimum) and potentially problematic more than likely. As I didn't have issues I can't speak to that topic but I assume that this many posts about initial s/u and connectivity is more than just operator error as it's quite a bit more than I've seen from other forums of similar devices.

What I can speak to is how horrible this company is with their Smart/App/WiFi solution as a whole. In all of my attempts to get help from them they made it quite clear that it wasn't a priority to them during numerous attempts to convince me that it shouldn't be a priority to me either. Yes, this was their solution in a nutshell: you can still smoke so don't worry about those features we marketed that you paid for.

The good news is that I sold my RecTeq and made the move to a Grilla Grills Silverbac and I couldn't be happier. I knew on the front end that it only had one cook probe but at least GG didn't try to sell me a 2 or 4 probe s/u that fooled me into making a decision I wouldn't have otherwise. This is basically what RecTeq did by marketing features to me they could never deliver on. I was more than patient (nearly two years... who else would grant them this kind of leeway?) and communicative with them about the issue and they either didn't care to fix it or didn't know how. Either way is unacceptable.

Life is too short to deal with this level of incompetency though. Despite REALLY wanting that smoker to work, I moved on. Now I have a smoker with the same cooking performance (actually better with some of the features RT doesn't have) AND my app works as advertised. Never an issue. This is how ALL smart smokers should work and for RT to sell us a "smart" smoker at a premium price tag that is actually dumb is an insult.

I wish all of those who stay loyal the best of luck but this ship is clearly sinking as there's FAR too many options out there to stand up for a company who clearly doesn't care about you as a customer..

Enjoy your new grill.

 

[SmokeZilla]

I think everyone has their own perspective and experiences with the hardware, App, and its reliability. My views are not meant to over-ride anyone’s opinions but to me this issue is hinged on two specific clauses in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Sales and Warranty clauses (Article 2-314 and others). Specifically, Merchantability; Usage of Trade and Fitness for a particular use clauses. In summary, companies have an obligation to truthfully advertise and sell their products based on real capabilities and the resulting product should be safe to operate, use, and (to the extent warrantable) reliable. Many software companies and auto manufacturers have been engaged in litigation for “overstating” products’ capabilities but it is harder to hold responsible a restaurant that states “Best Waffles“, World’s Greatest Steak, or similar slogans. This is due to a thin grey line that allows puffery (embellishment of realistic expectations). (Example: No one ever won a claim when MLB advertised the “World Series” and only invites teams from the US and Canada.). Although interesting, it is somewhat specious to expect a fix from RT because they seem (just my opinion) to use the same process for capacity planning that your local gym uses when it sells more memberships than the fire department capacity rating for their location. I think an overarching question for those experiencing issues is the harm/potential harm incurred when your reliance on the RT product was based on their advertising claims versus the received value/reality. Obviously, I am not an attorney (although I did play one last Halloween and it was equally scary for my neighbors) but I am hopeful one will weigh in and correct my amateurish veiw of this matter.

 

[Ostrichsak]

I think everyone has their own perspective and experiences with the hardware, App, and its reliability. My views are not meant to over-ride anyone’s opinions but to me this issue is hinged on two specific clauses in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Sales and Warranty clauses (Article 2-314 and others). Specifically, Merchantability; Usage of Trade and Fitness for a particular use clauses. In summary, companies have an obligation to truthfully advertise and sell their products based on real capabilities and the resulting product should be safe to operate, use, and (to the extent warrantable) reliable. Many software companies and auto manufacturers have been engaged in litigation for “overstating” products’ capabilities but it is harder to hold responsible a restaurant that states “Best Waffles“, World’s Greatest Steak, or similar slogans. This is due to a thin grey line that allows puffery (embellishment of realistic expectations). (Example: No one ever won a claim when MLB advertised the “World Series” and only invites teams from the US and Canada.). Although interesting, it is somewhat specious to expect a fix from RT because they seem (just my opinion) to use the same process for capacity planning that your local gym uses when it sells more memberships than the fire department capacity rating for their location. I think an overarching question for those experiencing issues is the harm/potential harm incurred when your reliance on the RT product was based on their advertising claims versus the received value/reality. Obviously, I am not an attorney (although I did play one last Halloween and it was equally scary for my neighbors) but I am hopeful one will weigh in and correct my amateurish veiw of this matter.

Of note, they have since taken steps to remove related marketing claims from their website. You can use the wayback machine to see they were clearly there for quite some time though. Now, it appears as though RecTeq's solution to an admitted problem is simply by covering their own eyes so it goes away like a 4-year-old making the boogey man vanish by obscuring his or her own vision. "If we can't see it, it's not there!" -RecTeq (Meanwhile, somewhere a RecTeq fanboi sheds a single tear as it gets harder and hard to shield their beloved from the obviousness of their follies by anyone in possession of at least a room-temperature IQ.)

tldr; RecTeq is a clown show and their vaunted customer service couldn't be anymore inept. Countdown to RIP has begun: 10, 9, 8....

 

[SmokeZilla]

Of note, they have since taken steps to remove related marketing claims from their website. You can use the wayback machine to see they were clearly there for quite some time though. Now, it appears as though RecTeq's solution to an admitted problem is simply by covering their own eyes so it goes away like a 4-year-old making the boogey man vanish by obscuring his or her own vision. "If we can't see it, it's not there!" -RecTeq Somewhere, a RecTeq fanboi sheds a single tear as it gets harder and hard to shield their beloved from the obviousness of their follies by anyone in possession of at least a room-temperature IQ.

tldr; RecTeq is a clown show and their vaunted customer service couldn't be anymore inept. Countdown to RIP has begun: 10, 9, 8....

Ostrich…

I agree. Quite a few of their original marketing claims have disappeared but thanks to the wonderful thing call the internet/interweb, they may not be forgotten. My bull is going on 3 years old and in that time we have gone from the Cadillac or grills to a Chevy with additional bells and whistles (based on legacy claims and statements). Hopefully those with issues have memorialized the advertising RT put forth when they made their buying decisions in case they had a reliance on their efficacy and subsequent inaccuracies. The collective impact of any puffery may allow for future remedies in a perfect world.

 

[Maule Guy]

I am actually not surprised the app works better on an iPhone. The good thing about Apple is they strictly control everything in the phone and the OS. In addition they evidently have some decent QC on apps that can be added while Android is an OS that sits on top of a hodgepodge of hardware.

All that being said, I use a Pixel phone by Google.