REC TEC pellet smoker, are they that good?

[doccoff]

All,

I have been looking into pellet smokers. One fella i met swears that the REC TEC model is the best on the market for the back yard style cook. Anyone have experience with these and what makes them better than other competitors?

I would appreciate some input from people smarter than me.

 

[cooknhogz]

I'm looking into adding a pellet grill to my smoking arsenal. I was also thinking RECTEC but now switched my thoughts to a Yoder. Just seems like a much better buy for that kind of money.

 

[doccoff]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[seenred]

Hi Doccoff.  I own a RecTec, and like it very much.  It has a very good temp controller...very accurate and consistent at temps from 180* to 500*.  I believe it is a great pit for the price.  

I looked into others when I was comparison shopping, including Yoder, Blazin Grill, GMG, and Memphis.  Everyone will tend to be a little biased about their pit over others, but I'd say these are all good pits.  While I believe my RT was a very good value at that price, I thought there were others with some better features that were out of my price range.  That being said, I'm happy with the RecTec, but if money were no object I would probably own a Memphis (Elite or Pro) or a Fast Eddy by Cookshack.

Hope this helps any.

Red

 

[doccoff]

Red thanks. Its going to be my retirement from the Army present! Oh, yeah, the wife approves which makes it legit!

 

[seenred]

 
Red thanks. Its going to be my retirement from the Army present! Oh, yeah, the wife approves which makes it legit!

Lol yeah it always helps to have the Boss on board!  Mrs. Red indulges me occasionally by allowing me to spend money on my favorite hobbies...golf and smokin'.

And BTW, Thank You for your service to our country!  

 

Red

 

[doccoff]

Thanks Red, It was my pleasure to serve. Now it is time to get after some smokin!

 

[jeepdiver]

Are you just smoking on it or do yoi want to grill too? I wanted to replace both my grill and smoker so I ended up getting a Fast Eddy pg500. With that in mind I had narrowed it down to the Fast Eddy, Memphis and MAK. The insulation on the PG 1000, Memphis and MAK would ve great for winter time use but for the difference in price I decided I could make do with the uninsulated unit.

From my reasearch the Rec Tec was on the upper end for just using as a slow cooker with occasional grilling, though I have seen several people on here get some good grill marks.

If money was no object I think I would go with the Mak.

 

[daron jake]

I myself have a Green Mountain Daniel Boone that I use constantly. it's a great grill and while I love it I am going to upgrade and after extensive research and shopping I am set on a Yoder YS 640. they just seem like the best grill with the most features. The thing that impressed me about them was seeing one with bacon covering the upper and lower grills and having it all done at the same time without a burnt piece in the bunch. I'm not saying the others are not good grills, I'm sure they are just my 2 cents

 

[walterm]

The Rec Tec is great. I was surprised that they could stand up to all the great things everyone says about them. I figured it was "too good to be true". Every good thing you have read is true. Well built, heavy duty, holds temperature great, nice people on the phone, etc. 

 

[doccoff]

To all who replied, thanks for all the input.

 

[cook shack pg]

Look at the Cookshacks before you buy the REC TEC.  I have the PG500 and it is awesome.

 

[cook shack pg]

I love my PG500 and am so glad I purchased it.

 

[bolopwr]

I have a REC REC and love it! I too looked at a lot of other models that were very impressive such as the Yoder. At the time, some of the other models were a bit out of my price range so I went with the REC TEC and am very pleased. The controller is very nice and holds temps steady, it has lots of grill space and consistently produces good Q. As others have mentioned, if money is not a problem, then I'm sure there are other Pellet Cookers out there that will do more, but for the price I'm a REC TEC fan. 

Good Luck with your purchase. It sounds like you are on the right track and am sure you'll be happy with whatever you choose. 

Brian

 

[spacetrucker]

got to chime in on the Cookshack aka fast eddy fec100, have had one for 5 years now, have a Traeger Texas offset 075  for, 10 plus years, gonna sell the Traeger some day or trade it, for ??

the reason is the pellet efficiency, hard to put in to words but the FEC100 is leaps and bounds above the Traeger in efficiency, grease collection, clean up and ease of operation, wish I had experience with the other brands you all are speaking of, My biggest "problem" with the Fec100 is if I want to cook at high temp it has a thermal circuit breaker that trips at 400 degrees so that pretty much keeps me at 350 tops to allow for temp swing, the Trager on the other hand I can set a 600 and do a pizza probably why I still have it.. just a thought or two for ya..

 

 

[jeepdiver]

Just for the recors the fec and pg units are different animals. The fec units are more pure smokers while the pg units have the "charboiler" feature. The charboiler can hit the 600 at the temp sensor in the smoker with well over 900 degrees at the grate