RecTeq 700 Pellet Grill Review – A Detailed Look At RecTeq’s Flagship Grill

The RecTeq 700, also known as “The Bull”, is one of the newest pellet grills to hit the market and features quite a few improvements over previous RecTeq cookers.

In fact, they’ve taken a lot of the best features from other pellet grills on the market and combined them into one high performance grill.

On top of all of that, the RT-700 is by far one of the slickest, cool looking grills out there if you ask me.

In this article, we’ve made a complete RecTeq 700 Pellet Grill review to highlight the features and attributes of this grill.  By the end, you’ll have all of the information to help you make up your mind as to whether or not this is the grill for you.

RecTeq – Quick Brand Overview

In 2009, lifelong friends Ray Carnes and Ron Cundy founded RecTeq Grills out of their passion for grilling and smoking.  They thought the equipment they used day in and day out could be better – so they did something about it.

Ever since the inception of RecTeq, the company has consistently pushed themselves to stay ahead of the competition.  What started out as a company with only one product (the RT-680), now has over a dozen premium grills and even more accessories, rubs, and sauces to enhance your grilling experience.

RecTeq has also made a point to ensure that quality is at the center of their design philosophy.  You won’t find any cheap parts anywhere on their grills – they are truly built to withstand the test of time.  With proper care, a RecTeq 700 Pellet Grill (or any of their other cookers) can last you a lifetime.

When it comes to customer service, RecTeq is refreshingly good.  If you have a problem or even a simple question, you can expect to talk to a real person who’s based in the USA who will be happy to help you out.  Great customer service is a by product of their ethos, which unfortunately nowadays is pretty rare.

We spend a lot of time researching, testing, and communicating with different grill and smoker manufacturers.  From what I can see, it’s extremely rare to come across an unhappy RecTeq customer – not surprising considering the quality of both their products and customer service.

Rec Tec RT-700 Review

The RT 700 is the flagship grill for Rec Tec and comfortably their best seller.  They market it as the gold standard of pellet grills, and it’s hard to argue with that statement.  There is an unbelievable level of precision and craftsmanship in the design of the RT-700.

Also known as “The Bull” you’ll notice a few bull themed features on this grill, most notably the logo and bull horn lid handles.

Aesthetics and Build

Just by looking at it, you can tell the Rec Tec 700 is a serious grill.  It has a barrel shaped main cooking chamber that attaches onto a heavy-duty cart with industrial grade wheels and rolling casters.

The thing to remember with the build quality of this grill is that everything, and I mean everything, is constructed with a high quality stainless steel.  Here’s the extensive list of all stainless steel parts:

• Cooking chamber (no paint means no flaking or chipping)
• Grill grates
• Fire pot
• Heat deflector and smoke tray
• Drip pan
• Micro polished bull horn handles
• Controller shelf
• Hopper lid, handles, and piano hinge
• Towel ring
• Lid stops
• Spill proof bucket hook
• Smokestack cap
• Pull bar handle
• Powder coated stainless steel lid for high temperatures
• Tool hooks

As you can see the list is extensive, and all of this quality stainless steel translates directly into performance and longevity.  Compared to most other brands, Rec Tec blows it out of the water when it comes to build quality.  You can expect maybe a handful of the above components to be stainless steel on other brands’ grills.  No corners were cut at all in the construction of the RT-700.

Cooking Features

All of the aesthetic design and durability features are great – but how does it cook?  Pellet grills are well known for their versatility, specifically their ability to both smoke at low temperatures for extended periods of time and also grill on direct heat at high temperatures.

The RT-700 boasts one of the best temperature ranges of any pellet grill on the market; it’s possible to easily maintain temperatures between 200°F and 500°F on this grill.  That’s a wide, versatile range for you to work with.  You can also precisely set your temperature in 5° increments across that entire temperature range, which gives you way more control than most other brands pellet grills allow (Traeger for example only has the ability to set temperature in 15° increments).

You’re also afforded a generous amount of space to get to work on the main cooking grate.  There’s 702 square inches of primary cooking surface area – which for reference is enough to fit 6 large racks of ribs at once.  If you want or need even more space, you can place in an optional top shelf that increases your total cooking area to 1,054 square inches.

The beauty of pellet grills is that you can achieve wood fired flavor without the hassle of managing a fire, thanks to wood pellets as your source of fuel.  The RT-700 is an extremely efficient burner of pellets compared to other grills – on average it burns a pound of pellets per hour.  Not only that, but the hopper capacity is 40 pounds of pellets at once which dwarfs many other competitors.  That’s a total of 40 hours of cooking to utilize for each full hopper!

There are two other cooking features we think are very helpful.  First, a dual probe thermometers are included with the grill so that you can monitor your food’s internal temperature easily while it cooks.  So there’s no need to purchase a third party probe thermometer system.

Second is the inclusion of an automatic grill lighting feature that illuminates your cooking area automatically.  This comes in extremely helpful for grilling sessions after the sun has gone down.  No more fumbling around with your phone’s flashlight or purchasing an extra grill light.

Technology

All of those cooking features are impressive and best in class, but the technology in the RT-700 takes this cooker to another level.  There are really two features that we’re referring to when we say “technology”

First, and most importantly in terms of cooking performance, is Rec Tec’s trademarked Smart Grill Technology.  The Smart Grill processor controls the rate at which the auger feeds pellets to the fire pot, and therefore temperature.  The processor will automatically speed up or slow down the rate at which pellets are delivered to maintain your desired temperature.

Smart Grill Technology is constantly monitoring your grill’s data and making adjustments to the feed rate as needed.  Where this feature really shines is during cold or windy days, where many pellet grills struggle to maintain consistent temperatures.  The Rec Tec 700 performs beautifully, even on less than ideal cold and windy days.

The second technology feature worth looking at is the RT-700’s connectivity with the Rec Tec Grills smartphone app.  Pretty much everything you could need to monitor or do with your grill can be managed from the app.

Want to turn on your grill and set your temperature?  It can be done from the app.  Want to know how the internal temperature of your smoked meat is coming along?  You can see that on the app too.  When it’s time to shut everything down, you can turn your grill off from the convenience of your phone as well.

The phone app interface comes in especially handy when it’s cold outside or for extended smoking sessions.  You can easily get work done or watch the big game from indoors and still easily keep tabs on what’s going on in your grill.

Warranty

We preach this all the time at Own the Grill, but the warranty is an important component of any purchase that’s overlooked way too often.

After all, a grill is a big investment right?  Don’t you want to make sure you have the most protection of your purchase as possible?  It would be silly to not at least consider the protection offered by the manufacturer.

We also think that a generous warranty is a signal of competence from the manufacturer.  A long warranty says “our products are high quality and we stand behind that claim”.  It’s a way the manufacturer can put their money where their mouth is.

In the case of Rec Tec, they offer some of the most generous – if not the most generous warranties of any pellet smokers on the market.

The RT-700 specifically comes with an industry leading 6 year warranty.  That’s an incredibly long coverage period, and certainly unmatched by other pellet grill manufacturers.

Extras

The most popular RT-700 bundle also includes a custom grill cover, two grill mats, and 200 pounds of wood pellets to get your supply started.

Aside from those, there are also a few extras and upgrades that you can purchase if you want to enhance your grilling set up even more.  Some of our favorites are:

• RT-700 Smokebox – a cold smoker that attaches to your grill and lets you cold smoke cheese and other foods.  Or add extra smokey flavor to your meats!
• Front folding shelf
• Upgraded competition cart
• Large interior shelf
• Flat top griddle – convert your RT-700 into a flat top grill
• Sear kit
• Grill pad
• Rubs and Sauces

The Rec Tec 700 Might Be For You If…

The Rec Tec 700 is the perfect grill for you if you’re the type who values both quality and convenience.

Pellet grills are a great in between of set it and forget it smokers like electric smokers or gas smokers and charcoal fueled grills and smokers – which require a lot more attention and ongoing fire management.

So you get the ease of use factor combined with a little bit of delicious wood fired flavor with a pellet grill.

The RT-700 in particular is for those who value a premium BBQ experience.  There’s no denying that the price tag is a little higher compared to some of Rec Tec’s competition – but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Many other pellet grills are built with cheap parts, have bad customer service, and frankly are going to have to be replaced after a couple of years of heavy use.

That’s just not the case with the Rec Tec 700 – it’s literally built to last a lifetime and is crafted with the utmost quality, precision, and attention to detail.

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More Resources to Go With This Rec Tec 700 Review

Buying a new grill is a big decision, so if you’re still unsure as to whether or not the RT-700 is a good fit for you, we have a few other resources that might be helpful.

First, check out our comparison of Rec Tec vs Traeger pellet grills.  Traeger is another popular pellet grill brand, and in this article we give a side by side comparison of each brand and the grills they offer.  We’ve also done a comparison of Rec Tec and Camp Chef pellet grills too.

Last but not least, this video outlines the process for assembling the Rec Tec 700.  As far as assemblies go it’s not too bad if you follow the instructions in the video.

Rec Tec 700 Review – Final Thoughts

By now, I hope you feel like you have all of the information you need after this Rec Tec 700 review to know whether or not it’s the right grill for you.

At the end of the day, you should think about you budget, the types of foods you plan to cook, and what you want your grilling and smoking experience to be.  From there, figuring out which grill is best for you will be pretty easy.

The Rec Tec 700 is a top notch pellet grill.  It’s sturdily constructed, versatile, and gives you the sort of precision with your cooks that you simply just won’t find with many other types of grills.

Did you end up getting the Rec Tec 700?  What were the reasons that you did?  We’d love to hear about it in the comments section!