Rec Tec vs Traeger – Detailed Comparison and Review

Outdoors / By

If you are a grill master yourself, you will have likely heard of both Rec Tec and Trager both of which are companies which specialize in making high quality grills and in particular wood pellet grills. But the question that may be difficult to answer is which the better option is and which is more suited to your own needs.

Below I am going to cover a grill from each of the companies and give my thoughts on each. Then after I will do a direct comparison between the 2. To make the comparison as fair as possible I choose to test the most popular option from each company which happens to both be around a somewhat similar price point.

Traeger vs Rec Tec

Traeger TFB42LZBC

This grill from Traeger is easily one of their most popular options. It is a wood pellet grill that not only grills but also smokes any food. This wood pellet cooking element makes it stand out from the crowd that really gives it such an amazing flavor that you simply don’t get from other standard grills. Not only do you get an amazing smell and taste, but it also creates some amazing sear marks which any serious grill master is bound to love!

First of let me start of by talking about this grills set up and installation. It was really simple and easy to get everything built and up and running thanks to the easy to follow instructions. Once you get it built you see it in all its glory. It looks incredible in person and is easily one of the best-looking grills I have used. It has an impeccable build quality and overall structure that is very durable and feels built to last for years and years to come.

How this grill functions – you feed in the wood pellets and the grill itself automatically feeds as it needs to. This basically makes cooking with this grill as set and forget as can be. This is amazing especially after using other wood pellet options which have to be manually fed and have to be constantly maintained which can not only be annoying but hard to get right. Whereas with this grill you can just set the temperature you want, and it will feed up until it reaches that temperature and it will maintain it which really is very convenient to have for a wood pellet grill.

As far as cleaning with this grill it really works great. The oil and grease flow out into a bucket which can be easily washed and emptied as you need which is ideal. Also, the grill grates are coated with a nonstick surface which makes cleaning them a breeze.

Advantages
  • Amazing smell and taste
  • Works flawlessly
  • Excellent build quality
  • Durable
  • Easy to assemble
  • Easy to clean
Disadvantages
  • n/a
  • Item 2

REC TEC Grills Trailblazer

This Rec Tec grill is very similar to the Traeger in terms of design and general functionality. It is a wood pellet grill that feeds the pellets automatically as needed to maintain the temperature you set with the included digital display. It works well and just as you would hope for but how does the food taste. The taste was excellent – the smoking effect gives it a great smell and taste.

In terms of the set up it was fine, it wasn’t quite as easy as the Traeger, but it still was manageable and didn’t take too long (2 hours). As for the build quality and design – I think it is great and well made though I would personally say that the Traeger is slightly better as it feels a little more solid and sturdy but there isn’t a big difference.

This grill also comes with an included grill pad and a grill cover which is a nice inclusion to have.

As for cooking it works flawlessly and gives a great smell and taste to the food as I mentioned above. Also, the heat is well distributed and even so there are no cold spots anywhere on the grill grates.

Cleaning this grill was easy and about the same as the Traeger. Simply you just empty the grease from the bucket and clean the grates which are a breeze to wipe and scrub of any dirt and grease etc.

Advantages
  • Good build quality
  • Durable
  • Great tasting food
  • Easy to clean
Disadvantages
  • Base wheels seem a little flimsy

Rec Tec vs Traeger – Conclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall both grills are excellent in terms of quality and I can easily recommend both of them but if I was to choose one I would have the choose the Traeger.

The reason for this is because it has some small advantages that I would rather have than not. The Traeger is slightly more durable and tougher than the Rec Tec, I also prefer the flavor of the Traeger and its sear marks are much better. As far as operation goes for both grills they are relatively similar with having the automatic feeding functionality and temperature control along with being easy to clean and easy to move around thanks to wheels on the base. On a final note the price for each of these is quite similar but at the time of writing the Traeger is about $100 cheaper and is better option of the two!

Related Posts