Bullseye Recteq B380X Pellet Grill Review

[BuffaloBadger]

Hope you had a great time at the restaurant, but you could have saved a bunch View attachment 18850
of money on dinner by using a culinary torch or a propane torch to just light the pellets in the firepot. The grill would function normally after that.

Yeah, I know. I haven't gone the route of lighting with a torch yet. It would be interesting to see whether lighting with a torch resulted in getting to temperature in 15 to 20 min instead of the 40 to 60 I've experienced on cold days when it did ignite. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[kstone113]

This sounds like a controller issue to me.

But one thing I do(I do NOT have the B380X - just the SS Bullseye) is clear out the ash in my firepot with my hand and then add a hand full of pellets before each time starting up. When I would not do this(especially in the winter), sometimes it won't even come up to 200 and it would error out OR take a super long time to come to temp like 40 to 50 minutes. When smoking with a Bullseye, this isn't always necessary though it's my routine. But when grilling with the Bullseye at 400 plus, you can either allow the grill to come down to 200 and then shut off(I do this method with my Bull - I do not always take out ash and add in pellets) OR you can just shut off and allow the cycle to go through and when ready to grill again, scoop out the ash and ash a hand full of pellets. This is also what my dad does with his Bullseye. I ended up buying a stainless steel diffuser for the Bullseye with a removable center so make this process easier.

I would recommend trying this with the new B380X. Especially with the ash drop out system, I would add in a decent sized hand full of pellets and see if that helps. If you don't want or RecTeq didn't say this should be done, then idk what to say but it's what I do everytime.

 

[BuffaloBadger]

This sounds like a controller issue to me.

But one thing I do(I do NOT have the B380X - just the SS Bullseye) is clear out the ash in my firepot with my hand and then add a hand full of pellets before each time starting up. When I would not do this(especially in the winter), sometimes it won't even come up to 200 and it would error out OR take a super long time to come to temp like 40 to 50 minutes. When smoking with a Bullseye, this isn't always necessary though it's my routine. But when grilling with the Bullseye at 400 plus, you can either allow the grill to come down to 200 and then shut off(I do this method with my Bull - I do not always take out ash and add in pellets) OR you can just shut off and allow the cycle to go through and when ready to grill again, scoop out the ash and ash a hand full of pellets. This is also what my dad does with his Bullseye. I ended up buying a stainless steel diffuser for the Bullseye with a removable center so make this process easier.

I would recommend trying this with the new B380X. Especially with the ash drop out system, I would add in a decent sized hand full of pellets and see if that helps. If you don't want or RecTeq didn't say this should be done, then idk what to say but it's what I do everytime.

Thanks for the info. I pretty much do as you suggest except it sounds like you add more pellets that I do and I only do it every third cook or after it fails to light. I'll add more pellets if I use the grill again. One of the attractive features of the Bullseye, to me, was being able to go outside, plug it in, push the start button, set the temp, and go back inside to prep. When you have to take out the grill and diffuser, throw in pellets, perhaps light the pellets with a torch, put everything back in, and then babysit it to see if it will ignite, that advantage disappears. It takes just as long as starting my Weber kettle using a chimney.

 

[kstone113]

Thanks for the info. I pretty much do as you suggest except it sounds like you add more pellets that I do and I only do it every third cook or after it fails to light. I'll add more pellets if I use the grill again. One of the attractive features of the Bullseye, to me, was being able to go outside, plug it in, push the start button, set the temp, and go back inside to prep. When you have to take out the grill and diffuser, throw in pellets, perhaps light the pellets with a torch, put everything back in, and then babysit it to see if it will ignite, that advantage disappears. It takes just as long as starting my Weber kettle using a chimney.

I hear ya and if my Bullseye had wi-fi then I would want to do that same thing. Because I do do that a lot with my Bull. But was just trying to help.

One other thing I assume was brought up but there should not no reason to light with a torch. I have had to do that with my bullseye when the igniter went out. I assume you checked your igniter and made sure it is flush or slightly sticking out of the metal inclosure, right? Because if the igniter is in too far, that has caused a lot this problem of not starting up quickly at all and if not at all.

 

[kstone113]

One thing you could do which is what my dad does is after the shutdown and before you put on your cover(b/c no doubt water can get into the grill without a cover), drop your ash and then add in some pellets so you are good to go for your next cook and can start from your phone.

 

[BuffaloBadger]

I hear ya and if my Bullseye had wi-fi then I would want to do that same thing. Because I do do that a lot with my Bull. But was just trying to help.

One other thing I assume was brought up but there should not no reason to light with a torch. I have had to do that with my bullseye when the igniter went out. I assume you checked your igniter and made sure it is flush or slightly sticking out of the metal inclosure, right? Because if the igniter is in too far, that has caused a lot this problem of not starting up quickly at all and if not at all.

Thanks. I haven't tried to light with a torch, but others have mentioned/suggested it. I have repositioned my igniter so it protrudes about 1/16 inch into the firepot.

 

[kstone113]

It can only be a few things that could cause it to take awhile to get going. The fans not working properly, the pellets themselves(assume you've tried different brands) or just airflow in general.

Have you tried watching the pellets ignite? What i mean by that is starting up the grill with the lid open, grates off and diffuser off and see how long it takes the fire to get blowing upwards? Should take less than 5 minutes to get going. If it is taking longer than that, something aint right with one of those.

One more thing I do(unless it is raining) is keep the lid open when starting up. I don't think RecTeq tells folks to do this but from my experience, it helps get more and more air flow when starting the fire.

 

[BuffaloBadger]

It can only be a few things that could cause it to take awhile to get going. The fans not working properly, the pellets themselves(assume you've tried different brands) or just airflow in general.

Have you tried watching the pellets ignite? What i mean by that is starting up the grill with the lid open, grates off and diffuser off and see how long it takes the fire to get blowing upwards? Should take less than 5 minutes to get going. If it is taking longer than that, something aint right with one of those.

One more thing I do(unless it is raining) is keep the lid open when starting up. I don't think RecTeq tells folks to do this but from my experience, it helps get more and more air flow when starting the fire.

Thanks for the reply; so many good suggestions on this forum, I may have to give the B380X another chance using some of them.

 

[oldschool]

Anyone else having issues with the b380x? I have an original bullseye and it's flawless, cook on it 3-4 times a week and never have issues and hardly ever clean out the pot.

 

[BuffaloBadger]

Anyone else having issues with the b380x? I have an original bullseye and it's flawless, cook on it 3-4 times a week and never have issues and hardly ever clean out the pot.

That's my experience with my RT-700 and why I'm so bummed about my 380X. What is your climate like, I really think my issues with the 380X are due to low temperatures and wind. I'll give it a try again when temperatures are in the 50's or higher. Hopefully it will work well when it is warmer.

 

[oldschool]

That's my experience with my RT-700 and why I'm so bummed about my 380X. What is your climate like, I really think my issues with the 380X are due to low temperatures and wind. I'll give it a try again when temperatures are in the 50's or higher. Hopefully it will work well when it is warmer.

I live just outside of Austin Texas, I have a bullseye, rt-680, rt-700 and rt-1250 and have cooked with them all from 20F to 110F and honestly haven't had a single problem with any of them except for when I've used cheap pellets on occasion. I almost exclusively use recteq pellets because of competition though. I've actually had 3 bullseyes at one time but sold two of them to friends, none of them have had any problem except when using cheap pellets.

Really tempted to upgrade to the new bullseye @abc66 has one for a SMOKING deal in my area, I just can't talk the wife into it, but I'm a little worried after hearing of some of the problems and knowing mine cooks like a dream currently.

 

[oldschool]

I also travel frequently with the 380(and the others) tied down on a trailer, recently lost the bolts and bar in the hinge of the lid, recteq replaced them for free but these things get beat up on the trailer and still no problems at all, even through crazy rain and storms all the electronics work and no water in any hoppers.

 

[Beach Bum]

I also travel frequently with the 380(and the others) tied down on a trailer, recently lost the bolts and bar in the hinge of the lid, recteq replaced them for free but these things get beat up on the trailer and still no problems at all, even through crazy rain and storms all the electronics work and no water in any hoppers.

Been happy with both my 700 and 380X. After a few times using the 380X, the temperature held much better. I never had an issue with startup or long delays to get to temperature.

 

[abc66]

I live just outside of Austin Texas, I have a bullseye, rt-680, rt-700 and rt-1250 and have cooked with them all from 20F to 110F and honestly haven't had a single problem with any of them except for when I've used cheap pellets on occasion. I almost exclusively use recteq pellets because of competition though. I've actually had 3 bullseyes at one time but sold two of them to friends, none of them have had any problem except when using cheap pellets.

Really tempted to upgrade to the new bullseye @abc66 has one for a SMOKING deal in my area, I just can't talk the wife into it, but I'm a little worried after hearing of some of the problems and knowing mine cooks like a dream currently.

Let’s hope someone wants to snag those grills- hell of a price!

 

[oldschool]

Let’s hope someone wants to snag those grills- hell of a price!

Amazing price!