Have you come to know about Rec Tec grills as being the best? And you need a well-researched review of the recteq RT 590 review? We’ve got you a detailed review of Recteq rt 590 wood pellet grill reviews after considering hundreds of users’ experiences.
Stick to this article. You’ll know what makes the RT-590 an unbeatable pellet grill.
Rec tec 590 Stampede Review in Detail
Recteq might not be famous for having a wide range of items on its selling list; however, it’s certainly known for producing some of the most refined pellet grills on the market.
Rec Tec grills exhibit an exceptional sense of proportion through their seamless build, state-of-the-art features, and matchless longevity. Indeed, they’re virtually built like a tank. Above all, Recteq’s customer service has no parallel–they truly stand behind their products.
The recteq RT 590 is a mid-sized, affordable, yet feature-rich pellet grill that has rapidly gained much traction in the pellet grill market. Once named and advertised as “The Stampede,” the RT-590 has undergone a nomenclature shift.
According to recteq’s latest naming system, this model RT-590 indicates the grill’s 592 square inches of cooking space. Leaving the naming terminology aside, the RT-590 is the best Rectec grill for the money.
In another article on the best Recteq grills, we ranked the RT-590 at the top of the pyramid. Owing to its features and construction, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the RT-590 stands at the apex of the entire Recteq pellet grill hierarchy.
Appearance/Design/Impression
The first thing to notice about the RT-590 is its angular, octagonal barrel that loves sticking out, making it a unique member of the entire Recteq lineup. Since the RT-590 isn’t as wide as the RT-700, recteq has created the barrel’s octagonal shape to compensate for the width.
Thanks to a well-thought design, the RT-590 has the same headspace and clearance above the cooking grates as its big brother.
Except for the black powder-coated steel legs and the lid, the entire grill is made of high-quality stainless steel. This makes a beautiful contrast in the grill’s exterior: shiny barrel and black painted body and lid.
The lid features the Recteq’s iconic, micro-polished bull horn handles that add to the overall aesthetics of the grill. The recteq RT-590 has the Recteq logo debossed on the lid, unlike other models with a slab bull logo. But it’s an acceptable minor tradeoff.
The pellet hopper with a control panel goes to the left while the grease bucket hangs on the right side. There are two polished side handles on either side.
It also has a bottom shelf that serves as an excellent storage area. For mobility, the RT-590 has two big, all-weather wheels and two smaller, swivel locking casters.
The RT-590 doesn’t have a chimney or smokestack. Instead, it has three exhaust ports on the rear.
It looks like a design flaw as open vents welcome moisture and rain. Yet, in retrospect, the same design also maximizes cooking space and minimizes the amount of real estate the grill takes up on your patio.
Cooking area
The RT-590 has two hefty, stainless steel cooking grates that provide 592 square inches of cooking area. However, you can buy an additional 2nd shelf to increase the cooking area to 772 square inches.
The standard cooking grates (without the 2nd shelf included) can hold up to 6 whole chickens, a 24 lb. or two standard-sized turkeys, 5-6 baby back ribs, 4-5 pork butts, and the list goes on.
Pellet Hopper Capacity
The pellet hopper on the RT-590 can store up to 30 pounds of pellets. However, unlike Traeger pellet grills, there’s no pellet purge door to empty the hopper quickly.
It’s why the wood pellets can absorb moisture and go rancid when stored for more than a few weeks.
Since the RT-590 doesn’t have a pellet door on the hopper’s side, you need to remove extra pellets manually.
It’s okay to leave some pellets in the hopper if you cook regularly. If you’re an occasional chef, don’t leave the pellets in the hopper for over 6 weeks.
While it seems unfair, recteq has a good reason for not adding a pellet door in the RT-590. A hopper door having seams, in itself, puts the pellets at significant risk of getting moist. So, We think Recteq is justified in not including a pellet door in the RT-590.
Construction
The RT-590 comprises more stainless steel than comparable models from any other pellet grill brand. Heavy gauge stainless steel is used everywhere, from the grill grates to recteq’s signature bull horn handles. The other 304-grade stainless steel parts include the firepot, the heat deflector, and the drip pan.
The black painted steel skeleton, comprising the body and legs, is noticeably beefy for added stability. recteq’s quality control ensures the paint doesn’t fade, flake, and fail even after years of use. We can say that: the price is what you pay, and quality is what you get from Recteq.
When you open the lid, a kaleidoscope constituted by almost mirror-like, shiny stainless steel parts welcomes you. The shine won’t last past the first few cooks, yet, the parts will bear high heat, acidic smoke, oils, and a host of other elements even after years.
Thus, the durability of the entire cooking chamber, the barrel walls, the auger system, the RT sensor, the fire pot, and the drip pan is beyond speculation. As evident by the following material specs, the RT-590 has a virtually bombproof construction:
- Lid: 2.7mm black painted steel
- Cooking chamber/Barrel walls: 1.2mm stainless steel
- Cooking grates made of 5mm thick stainless steel rods
- Drip pan: 1mm stainless steel
- Heat deflector: 1.85mm stainless steel
- Firepot: 326-grade stainless steel
While the RT-590 doesn’t have porcelain-coated cooking grates, the 5mm stainless steel grates are no joke either. Porcelain coating sticks better to cast iron grates, or it’ll easily chip away. So you won’t see a porcelain-coated stainless steel grate anywhere. Additionally, the RT-590 cooking grates are pre-seasoned and ready to use out of the box.
The HotFlash Ceramic Ignition system is a noticeable upgrade over the conventional steel ignitor rod. The ignition system is rated at over 100,000 lighting cycles, about 10x lifespan above the norm.
Another interesting thing to note about the RT-590 is the use of silicon thermal caulk over the seams in the cooking chamber and the pellet hopper. Such attention to detail can only be found at Recteq.
Temp Controller
The RT-590 comes with a PID temperature controller. It’s the type of controller bakeries, breweries, pharmaceutical companies, and other industries use to get repeatable results every time.
A true PID controller, like the one in the RT-590, takes data from the RTD sensor and monitors the ambient temperature to maintain the temperature better. It also regulates the pellet burn rate by controlling the feed rate and the fan speed. Thus, your grill’s temperature remains precise within a narrow range, i.e., +/-5°F of your set temperature.
Lastly, a PID controller uses complex algorithms to forecast and reverse any future temperature changes in the system. This complex array of functions allows a PID controller to prevent the temperature from undershooting or overshooting the set point.
On the other hand, a conventional style controller keeps the temperature within +/-25°F of your desired temperature, a fair degree of control for most types of smoking. However, since a conventional controller doesn’t register the ambient temperature, you’ll have to bear with frequent temperature swings, which become more wild on a hot or cold day.
Hence, when it’s about smoking your briskets and other precious recipes at an accurate temperature, Rect Teq 590 is matchless.
Controls and operations
The recteq’s Smart Grill Technology control panel on the RT-590 is on the left, beneath the pellet hopper. It has an LCD backlit display that performs well both in the dark and in light.
The readings are legible even in direct sunlight. The display highlights your set point, the actual temperature of your grill, and temperature readings from both meat probes.
The buttons on the panel include a “power” button and a “settings” button. The panel also has a power indicator and a Wi-Fi sign, illuminating when the relevant function is turned on.
Temp selection on the RT-590 is via an ergonomic rotary dial, which lets you select between 180°F-700°F in 5-degree increments. In addition, there are LOW/HIGH settings that allow you to achieve the minimum/maximum temperature with the push of a button.
One of the most impressive things about the RT-590 is its one-button startup/shutdown feature that kicks off a programmed startup/shutdown sequence every time the button is pressed. So, you don’t need to worry about preheating and then taking care of the shutdown process–the grill does it independently.
This is unlike any other grill on the market, most of which require additional steps to start.
What’s more?
The self-cleaning, auto-shutdown feature of the Recteq 590 takes the hassle out of properly powering off the machine and reduces the frequency of cleanups you would otherwise encounter.
Last but not least, these auto-startup and shutdown modes, besides saving you time, prevent potential fire hazards. During the automatic startup cycle, the drill turns 30 seconds before the ignition to feed pellets to the firepot.
Similarly, during the shutdown cycle, the auger motor stops rotating, but the fan blows for five minutes to completely extinguish the fire. As the fan turns off, the auger delivers its remaining contents of pellets into the pot to prevent hopper fires.
WiFi connectivity
All the control panel features on the grill are accessible from the recteq app. Just pick your smartphone up, open the Recteq app, press the power button to turn it on, and your grill will handle the preheating for you.
Similarly, shutting down your grill is just a single click away. You can adjust and monitor your grill’s temperature sitting in the living room with your friends, all while your food is cooking in the backyard.
The temp adjustment is via a slider on the app–slide your finger to select the optimum temperature for your food. The app lets you see the meat probe readings, which come pre-bundled with the grill.
In addition to this, the app allows you to set and receive alerts for temperature targets for the grill and both meat probes. It also shows you a line graph history of your set point, the grill’s actual temperature, and meat probe readings.
WiFi connectivity on the RT-590 is on a par with industry standards. It has a fair degree of range and allows you to communicate with your grill in real-time–we didn’t notice latency even while at a reasonable distance from the grill and with poor signals/connection.
Performance
The quality build doesn’t always entail good performance. Similarly, some pellet grills produce the tastiest smoked meat but don’t last a year due to poor construction. However, this is not the case with the RT-590, which is functionality-oriented.
The most important aspect of the RT-590’s performance is its wide temperature range, i.e., 180-700 degrees. It can get up to a reasonably high temperature relatively quickly.
While smoking is best done over low and slow heat, the RT-590’s high-temperature range is not entirely irrelevant. It’s more than a pellet smoker, a complete outdoor cooker that can grill, bake, sear, and even dehydrate. However, some of these functions require additional, separately-sold accessories.
Using an optional Sear Kit, you can grill, sear, and even reverse sear on the RT-590.
Another must-have characteristic of a pellet smoker is that it should produce a fair amount of smoke. The recteq RT-590 produces enough wispy white smoke, even at a high temperature.
Some pellet grills are prone to flame out and re-ignite at low temperatures, producing acrid smoke that impacts flavor badly. However, this is not the case with the RT-590.
Overall, the RT-590’s performance is comparable to or even better than the flagship models of other pellet grill manufacturers. If you go through the customer reviews the grill has received, it’ll be hard to find a single complaint regarding its performance, grilling, and smoking outcomes.
Cleanup
Pellet grills need regular cleaning to prevent grease fires, and the RT-590 is no exception. But owing to its quality construction and nearly seamless design, the RT-590 is relatively easy to clean. Adhering to the following guidelines will ensure years of trouble-free service with minimal effort:
- You can clean the exterior using mild soap and water. Recteq recommends not using acidic cleaners on the exterior.
- You can use a grill brush to clean the stainless cooking grates. But make sure no bristles remain on the grates.
- To maintain proper airflow, clean the firepot every 3-5 cooks.
- The grill’s interior, including the hopper and the firepot, should be cleaned every 5-6 bags of pellets. For this purpose, you can use a shop vac as it leaves a thin layer of ash on the bottom of the barrel for insulation.
- Using a drip tray liner (aluminum foil) is the surest way to achieve a mess-free cleanup. When you complete a low and slow cook, replace the aluminum foil to prevent a grease fire. You can also use a grease bucket liner to reduce the mess further.
Customer service
Recteq’s customer service has no parallels. The company lists its service hours as Monday-Saturday, morning to evening, but when you make a purchase, you get a special number to call anytime.
Even Ray and Ron, the founders and owners, do field service calls often. You’re getting round-the-clock, seven-days-a-week customer service from Recteq.
Recteq answers your calls without delay, typically after the first ring. Recteq representatives know their products and can quickly recognize any technical issues.
They’ll come up with a quick fix in no time. If the proposed fix doesn’t work for you, they’re also quick to offer replacement parts free of charge.
Most recteq customers get replacement parts with no further questions asked. Some buyers also said they received replacement parts from Recteq’s customer service without any fees, even when the product was long out of warranty.
I don’t know about you, but as someone who’s tested and reviewed countless pellet grills across different brands, such dedication to buyers blows my mind.
Recteq has garnered a dedicated and knowledgeable fanbase that loves helping each other. For example, a single unofficial forum site for Recteq grill owners named “Rec Teq Forum” hosts thousands of the recteq community members and a similar number of discussions/threads related to different things a recteq grill owner can face.
In short, if you’re the owner of a Recteq grill, you’re never left out–they truly stand behind their grills and customers.
Warranty
The recteq RT 590 comes with a whopping 4-year, all-inclusive warranty. Recteq is matchless when it comes to product warranties and customer service. For example, they provide a 30-day money-back warranty for this grill. With each grill, you get a customer support card with a dedicated toll-free number to call for any queries or issues related to your grill. It’s also interesting to note that the dedicated number has 24/7 availability.
Optional extras
In addition to the included extras, such as two meat probes, recteq offers multiple optional accessories sold separately. These extras add many cooking options to your grill and enhance the overall cooking experience/performance.
Sear Kit for the RT-590
The Sear Kit for the RT-590 is a set of three hard-anodized aluminum plates that replace one of the cooking grates on the RT-590. Each plate, in turn, features a set of longitudinal raised rails and burrowed valleys with cylindrical holes on one surface.
With the plates turned upright, your grill churns out restaurant-quality, diamond pattern steaks. The heat is concentrated on the raised rails, producing beautiful sear marks on anything you grill.
In addition, meat juices, fat drippings, and moisture is trapped and instantly vaporized by the valleys, infusing your food with a rich smoky taste. In this sense, the Rec Tec Sear Kit resembles Weber’s flavorizer bars and promises the same grilling results.
The opposite surface is flat–flip the plates upside down for a complete sear on smash burgers. You can also reverse sear on the Sear Kit.
The plates in the Sear Kit are interlocking, behaving as a single grate. It tremendously adds to the ease of use of the Kit. Recteq promises a 100-200+ degree increase in the temperature with the Sear Kit than what your Recteq is set to. Last but not least, the sear plates are easy to clean too.
Front Folding Shelf
The front folding shelf for the RT-590 is made of heavy-duty stainless steel, measures 10″ x 27.75″, and can be easily installed/mounted using the existing leg bolts. It’s a perfect tool for holding dishes going in or coming out of your grill. Aside from adding a sleek touch to the look of your Recteq, it serves as an excellent prep area.
The add-on also features two integrated bottle openers.
RT-590 Competition Cart
The RT-590 Competition Cart makes transporting the RT-590 a snip. In addition to enhancing maneuverability, it adds to the unit’s aesthetics. It’s an absolute necessity for taller pit masters as it raises the cooking surface to a comfortable height.
The Competition Cart is made of black powder-coated steel, aimed at longevity. The coating is heat resistant and looks great for the lifetime of your grill. It has four sturdy, 6″ diameter rubber locking caster wheels that can roll down a gravel driveway or any other rough terrain.
The Competition Cart mounts to your grill with existing hardware.
Rectteq RT-590 Grill Cover
The Custom Fit RT-590 Pellet Grill Cover features a 2-ply construction from 350-gram PVC with a heavy polyester lining. As well as being water resistant, the cover also resists cracking, fading, and scratches.
The premium grill cover for the RT-590 has buckles on all four legs and comes with a whopping 18-month warranty.
Small Interior Shelf
The stainless steel shelf sits on top of your regular cooking grates with no attachments or extra hardware required. It has a meshed bottom to allow airflow and convectional heat but is rigid enough to hold a reasonable amount of food. The optional shelf measures 18 “L x 9.5 “W with 2.75” height clearance and increases the total cooking surface by 171 square inches.
The shelf also features foldable legs for flat storage.
Pros
- High-temperature range (180 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Matchless build
- A well-thought design coupled with a seamless construction
- Incorporates more stainless steel than any pellet grill from any other manufacturer
- Advanced PID controller
- Automatic startup and shutdown mode
- Relatively easy to clean as it has a self-cleaning function during shutdown
- Excellent WiFi connectivity
- High-temperature range coupled with Sear Kit makes it a versatile cooker
- It can be used for grilling, searing, and even reverse searing.
- Features a lot of optional add-ons to enhance performance and durability
- Unparalleled customer service, support, and warranty.
Cons
- High price tag
- Exposed vents
- No pellet purge door
Rec Tec Stampede Review – Our Final Verdict
We can’t resist saying a “huge yes!” The recteq RT-590 is an excellent pellet smoker that doesn’t produce anything but “mouth-watering” smoked food. A few compelling reasons to have Rectec are:
- You can increase its smoking and grilling performance by purchasing an optional add-on, the Sear Kit. Since it gets to a searing high temperature in no time, you won’t need the Kit either as long as grilling and reverse searing go.
- The RT-590 comes with wireless connectivity, so you can control all of its cooking functions from the comfort of your sofa or bed using the Recteq app. The PID controller gives you precise control over the temperature.
- The RT-590 is made of heavy gauge stainless steel and contains more stainless steel parts than any other grill on the market. So, it’ll last for decades or even a lifetime if properly cared for.
- Lastly, the RT-590 comes with a 4-year comprehensive warranty. This, coupled with Recteq’s matchless customer service, makes the RT-590 the best pellet grill ever made in the mid-sized pellet grill category.
We can’t recommend the recteq RT-590 enough.
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