Well I mean that's the feeling I get.

So help me out here.....which pellet smoker should I purchase?

One that doesnt burn compressed sawdust pellets. Maybe an actual smoker.....?

Rec Tec FTW!

Gut punch!! I actually WANT a pellet smoker, so leave me alone

I use a fake big green egg that I bought at Costco.

Do you have the RT-340?

No, I have the Rec Tec 680.

Must not make that model anymore......same as 700?

Green Mountain Grills are higher quality than Traeger. I have an older Daniel Boone and I've been very happy with it. I sometimes wish I went with the larger Jim Bowie. The new design has a different heat shield and drip tray. I'm on a GMG FB group and some people have had hardware issues, but GMG's customer service is second to none. You call them up and they send you whatever parts you need free of charge. Great company.

And whatever you do, buy your pellets from Lamrith. No filler woods like Traeger or other locally available pellets.

Yeah, it was the previous model. I haven't really studied the new models, but I think it was similar in size (680 sq. in.). I've upgraded mine with the wifi controller, so I think functionality is now similar.

It's treated me right, I've been very happy with it.

Nice!

I have 5 sacks of pellets from Lamrith!! :)

Thanks. And thanks for making this thread informative. Digging this.

Maybe I'm just hungry.

Traeger is the original, they are a HUGE marketing machine. They keep alive now sheerly by name recognition. They are NOT what they used to be and that is why people poo-poo on them. Their controllers tend to be behind the times and the quality us just not what it used to me. They also like to hype and push their pellets are great and only use theirs or you ruin your grill. not true and technically not legal for them to say that, but I digress...

I had a Green mountain and like Traeger, I no longer recommend them, I had mine 2yrs and fought with it the entire time. Thousands of people have no issues, but mine was a nightmare. There was a marked increase in people having issues when they released the Wifi controller. That is when I bought mine, and reviews/threads prior to that were 99% stellar. After that lots of users having issues. Temp variations, sooting, etc. All sorts of fixes, tweaks and adjust this replies, and fair bit of hardcore fanboi attacks on those having actual issues pretty much soured me to them completely. That said I sold mine and the new owner (a customer of mine) loves it so who knows.?

I recommend RecTec, in fact I talked Steve into getting his. Mine just works, same way, every time. no tinkering, adjusting, tweaking or fixing after a year of use. Never had a bad cook on it, and I completely abuse mine. I have burned multiple hopers thru it without cleaning and found 4" deep ash in it, but it was still working just fine. I bought mine after checking out a customers rig, 400* set temp and it was a 25* total variation across the entire 700sq in surface.
The RT700 (bull) replaced the RT680, not sure why they ever called it a 680 as they measure 702sqin. Same grill, but they updated a number of things. All stainless bare tank (680 was painted), stainless side shelf (680 was painted black), Black lid (680 was red), and they all now have Wifi. The Wifi is a nice app too.

Above all else RecTec customer service is simply the best CS I have seen in ANY industry in my entire life. It is customer 1st from the owner down. In fact the grill comes with a business card that has both owners and the GM's personal Cell numbers for after hours support. You call one of them on Xmas, you will get a call back if they do not answer.

The big questions are:
what is your budget?
how much do you normally cook?

I cook a lot. I do ALL the meat cooking. I have gone through a variety of smokers. Want to run with pellets now that I have dabbled manually

so, word of advice....just like a safe, get a bigger one than you think you need. if you like to cook, you're going to cook a lot.
i have a gmg daniel boone and i wish it was bigger. i've done a few modifications to it, that you have to not be squeamish lmao, because i drilled into the smoker itself and modified it. but i love it.
i really really do recommend the Rec Tec though, it looks like it's much much better than mine.