Excellent. Love the biz name

I'm STILL in the market for some type of (automated) pellet smoker

There are a number of brands out there with varying customer following.
Traeger - sort of the leader, they were the 1st commercial mass marketed pellet grills. been around a long time. All mae in china like everyone else. imho at this point they are not the best grill out there, gotten to the point you are paying for the name a bit. They and had controller issues in the past (MANY Co have had controller issues so they are far from alone), there are aftermarket controller Co specifically to upgrade traegers controllers. Price wise I think they are a little overpriced in relation to features/build quality.

GMG- I had one, I had issues with it. buddies that bought in the same group buy had no issues, and new owner I sold mine to likes it. Oregon based Co, grills all made in china, heavier build than traeger, unique shape that is taller which make flexible for cooking. I had temp balance issues, spent 2 years testing and researching, few badly failed cooks and I threw in towel. I narrowed it down to fan cycling frequency for when I had issues, but CO was not receptive to all my documented research on the issue. Online customer/fan base are "rabid", bring up a problem and better have flame suit on.

Rectec - This is the company I went to from GMG. A friend had one and let me stop by to fire his up and cook on it. Back then they only had one size, and it was 2x bigger than my GMG but at high temp it was +/- 12* over entire surface. SOLD! They are a customer direct only CO and more importantly they are CUSTOMER 1st PERIOD. They are not cheap and on the higher end of price ranges, but the units are very solid and heavily built. Like an grill they can have sporadic issues, but the company always makes it right and you get a bus card with owners names and personal cell# to call when you have issue. You can call on xmas and they will answer or call back. They added more new models and I bought their kettle grill version when it was released that now does my hot&fast grilling, not used propane in years.

Yoder/Memphis/Cookshack - Sort of the Pinnacle grill Companys, break out your checkbook and be ready. But I have heard almost no issues with them, they are the gold standards.

CampChef - new on the pellet grill market, lower price points. Hearing good things and they have some very nice features usually only found on high end grills. Pellet hopper dump port, firepot ash clean out door.

Louisiana grills(Davidsons) - I almost bought one of them before I got the GMG. I have not kept up on how they are for quality/issues, but they are still popular and I hear the name around.

I am sure I have missed some, but those are ones I have at least some limited knowledge of. Might want to keep an eye on craigslist/offer up for used ones to get into the market cheap? While warranty does not specifically say so I have talked with Rectec and as long as people are not abusive they pretty much cover their grills for ever within reason. They want people out there cooking on their grills and telling friends about how great they are... So you could pick up a used one and if it has issue, probably get parts for it free.

Does the Rectec do a decent cold smoke?

Honestly no pellet grill does a cold smoke, simply due to how they are designed to work. Reason being that they are all set a temp and hold it, as such they are all 150-180* minimum temp. WAY to hot for a true cold smoke.

That said there are add on things like smoke daddy that are designed for supplemental smoke on a pellet grill that can be used to smoke while not even running the grill itself, just use the chamber. If all you want to do is cold smoke there are other cheaper options than a pellet grill. You could even just get a box and use a smoke daddy, or any other supplemental smoke device.

I love my Camp Chef with side sear Box. My only complaint would be it could have been made with thicker material.
Holds temp very well regardless of outside temps and the extra features Larry mentioned above are really nice.
The Side sear Box with Cast Iron Grate and 900 degree max temp is a game changer for Steaks, you just can't get those Temps with any Smoker or Gas Grill for that matter.
A true Sear.

Good to hear! I might have to stop by and take a look at some point, I am considering contacting them to be a dealer.

I use my RecTec Bullseye for searing, but it only gets 600ish. However that pairs very well with the big rectec for reverse sear. Anyone that has a pellet grill has GOT to try reverse sear, game changer!

Great answer. I do a wide variety of smoking, and have ways of improvising a cold smoke, I was just wondering about pellet smoker versatility because obviously have never used one. Did seem like a "weakness". Rectec says 200°F min. Those temps always scare my squeamish loved ones.........I got this

C'mon over Larry! I will pickup a Couple nice, thick Ribeyes and you can see how well it gets that beautiful Carmalized crust in no time.

On the Smoke until about 110-115, then fire the Sear Box and let the Steaks rest while the Sear box heats up. Throw them on and let the Fire show start!
I like to flip twice to get the checkerboard pattern, they are beautiful that way.

They might have increased the min temp, used to be 180*. Now it is just "low" with the new wifi controller.

I know people use the "mailbox" concept too, basically a remote box with a smoldering fire in it connected to the smoked with a tube of some sort (drier ducting?) I have been wanting to look at cold smoking, I have a old propane vertical smoker that would be perfect for it, just not had the time to tinker with it t make a remote box to cool it down. The biggest key, especially with cold smoking is making sure you keep the smoke moving thru and out of the chamber. Letting it just sit can make it taste bad form what I have been told. Have to find that balance between moving air (which makes fire hotter) and not moving enough.

I do similar, but switch @ 100* usually. I fire up the kettle around 80* so it is at 600 by time they hit 100, then straight over, couple min then flip and rotate like you do. All about the grill marks.

Not sure of your design, but propane = too much H2O.

Yes,
I am thinking gut the propane setup out of it the vertical and chuck it. Then use a "mailbox" remote smoke box connected to it. The vertical would just be the chamber for the food to be in since it already have grates etc. Might even see about connecting chimney from my rectec over to it.. hrmm... connect hose to bottom of the vertical and any residual warmth should create airflow of it's own... Gotta think a bit on that, I have a few ideas rattling around my head now.

There are cold smoke boxes that can attach to any rectec that uses a side stack. My little 300 vents out the top so I cold smoke in my Bradley puck smoker. Puck igniter only with a large bucket of ice water at the bottom.

It was a cool idea on RecTec's part, but in actual use it does not work very well as a cold smoker. It is just too close to the main chamber and does not allow enough temp drop to be a cold smoker. It works great for if you have items you want a bit colder than main chamber though or as a warmer (225 main chamber 180ish in side box). I think people see 30-50* temp drop?, so 180 or 200 set temp you are still over 130* which is too hot for cold smoking (sub 95* usually). It is however sort of where I am thinking of with my idea of using my old vertical as a cold box by using the main grill's exhaust.

Yeah those bradleys are pretty sweet, glad you have a good pair Dan!

All i can think about now is BBQ.

After my surgery Tuesday it's not on the menu for awhile though. I'm basically on a "Imagine you have no Teeth, that's what you can eat" diet for a little while.

That's what the surgeon actually said...