Rec Tec 590 or 700?

Wslayer

Well-known member
Messages
674
Location
ND
Grill(s) owned
  1. Stampede
Been looking into pellet grills quite heavily lately and thinking of joining the family here. Usually only do small cooks, but occasionally couple racks of ribs and maybe a pan of beans or Mac and cheese. Would the smaller 590 serve my purpose well enough ? I know the 700 would probably be a little overkill and would use more fuel per cook. There is more accessories available also for the 700. ND winter temps I would assume would require a jacket in either model? Front shelf available for the 590 yet?
Convince me...
 
There are quite a few reasons to justify either one, depending on your needs/priorities. In this thread we have some discussion about that.

As for the shelf for the 590 from RT it's supposed to be available sometime soon by their projection. However, it's not tough to make your own for less, see this thread
 
I think the 590 would would be big enough. It does not have a blanket, you'd have to make your own. The 700 is better built with thicker gauge steel and a wider, more stable base. You can also buy a custom fit blanket for it.

I generally don't cook when it gets below 20 degrees or so, just because I've learned that when you spill or make a mess when it's really cold it will freeze instantly and it can be quite a while before you are able to clean it up. But I'll probably be trying my 590 out in sub zero temps this year anyway, just to see how it does. I have sealed the door which should help but do not have a blanket.

I'm waiting for the front shelf too. I believe it is several months overdue and they've been talking about it for a year. If you have to have it, I don't know if I'd count on Rec Tec. Not sure what is going on but it shouldn't be that hard to deliver it.
 
If price is not an issue go for the 700. For those times when you need more capacity you will have it. As far as fuel goes I have had four or five cooks now and still am on my first twenty pound bag of lumberjack with a couple hours worth left in hopper. The longest cook I have had was 6 1/2 hours on ribs and I run a 3.5 feed rate as well along with a Don Godke downdraft. I use my unit strictly for smoking.

I get Lumberjack at 8.99 per 20lb bag and a couple of bucks cheaper when on sale so I am pleased so far with the economy of fuel use. My WSM would have used more charcoal for the cooks I have done weight wise than I have used pellets so far.
 
As with most things it is better to have more than you need as opposed to not enough. Not using all of the space of the 700 on the regular is a great convenience when you do need that space. Comparatively not having enough room is a huge inconvenience when you need that space. Even if you rarely cook for more than two the ability to put the entire meal on one cooker is a good thing. If cost and/or space are not a factor go for the 700.
 
Go with the biggest one you can afford imo i would go with the 700 its better to have the extra space cause when u need it its there for you if you went smaller it wouldnt be
 
I recently went through the same internal debate. Both seemed great, and cost was certainly a factor. I hate that I had to choose. I ended up choosing the 700 primarily because I have four young kids and I can foresee needing the additional capacity in the future. One other thing that I found was that a 700 can comfortably fit one papa murphy’s large pizza and one medium pizza (without any extra shelf) whereas you have to fold up two sides of one large pm pizza on the 590 (or so says my friend who has a 590). It may or may not be important to you, but the 700 really nicely facilitates the stupid amount of papa Murphy’s pizza that we seem to go through.
 
I recently went through the same internal debate. Both seemed great, and cost was certainly a factor. I hate that I had to choose. I ended up choosing the 700 primarily because I have four young kids and I can foresee needing the additional capacity in the future. One other thing that I found was that a 700 can comfortably fit one papa murphy’s large pizza and one medium pizza (without any extra shelf) whereas you have to fold up two sides of one large pm pizza on the 590 (or so says my friend who has a 590). It may or may not be important to you, but the 700 really nicely facilitates the stupid amount of papa Murphy’s pizza that we seem to go through.
I have the Stampede and have cooked two Papa Murphy's Large pizzas at the same time, did not have to "fold up the sides".
 
Shoot, good catch, my bad. In my head it was the 590 but I must be mistaken - my buddy must have a 340 or legacy model similar to the 340.
 
I had the same dilemma and ended up choosing the Stampede. The. I’ll does have the thicker gauge steel and larger hopper/cooking surface but I really don’t need the extra sf. And at the end of the day after putting my hands on a stampede it felt very heavy duty. Looking forward to a lot of good food coming from this thing
 

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