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[okie smokie]

They look impressive, but even tho the show low slow with wood chips, I am dubious as to the results. Has anyone tried them??

[pmillen]

I've not heard of Tea Infrared.  Do you mean TEC Infrared?  The $3,000-$5,000 units?

[okie smokie]

Mia Culpa.  Should read Tec.  I have corrected it. 

[okie smokie]

They appear to be top quality and all 304 SS.  But I do not see wheels on (maybe on just one) them.  Kinda hard to move around without wheels.  I watched a video where they cooked BB ribs in 75 to 90 minutes, but they were not limber when lifted off the grill, and the video ended before they were cut. Temp set at 250 for the cook.  They used wood chips for the smoke. Looks like a great unit for a built in, since they have extra add ons for pizza, smoking, griddle, and of course hot searing. Claim of juicier meat, since there is no forced air. I still don't see why the name RecTec offended them. 
PS found the wheels on the non built ins. They are recessed mostly.

[pmillen]

About 10 years ago I had a few bites of a T-Bone that was cooked on one.  It was okay.  The cook put the seasoning on it after it was cooked.  At the time I thought that he was worried that the IR heat would burn it off if he applied it before cooking.

The rendered fat dripped toward the honeycomb-like burner with a zillion little propane flames and vaporized before hitting bottom.  He said that it added flavor.

There were a few things that kept me from getting serious about buying one–

• It was outrageously expensive.
• It seemed to be running either wide open or off, with no way to throttle it back.
• Cook timing is critical.  A few seconds of overcooking resulted in charred meat.
• I preferred my way of grilling steaks—over wood or charcoal.

[okie smokie]

About 10 years ago I had a few bites of a T-Bone that was cooked on one.  It was okay.  The cook put the seasoning on it after it was cooked.  At the time I thought that he was worried that the IR heat would burn it off if he applied it before cooking.

The rendered fat dripped toward the honeycomb-like burner with a zillion little propane flames and vaporized before hitting bottom.  He said that it added flavor.

There were a few things that kept me from getting serious about buying one–

• It was outrageously expensive.
• It seemed to be running either wide open or off, with no way to throttle it back.
• Cook timing is critical.  A few seconds of overcooking resulted in charred meat.
• I preferred my way of grilling steaks—over wood or charcoal.

New one is different. No flame is visible, it is all under the glass that sits above the burner, so you get 100% infrared heat. It is now adjustable from 200 to 900* (or so they say). The way it smokes is by putting chips on the grates directly, or into a chip bin on the smoking add on. The add on has a pan to catch the drippings and fat. Looks well  engineered. I am not interested nor do I need it, just curious. Mostly hand made, American, but still too costly. If I was not a PF I might be persuaded. Even then I would be too old to get my monies worth!. 

[BigDave83]

I saw one at a Cabelas like local store years ago and wanted one since, just never had the disposable income to get one. That was when they had the grid open. They had all kinds of accessories, deep fryer, griddle, smoke box. It really looked like it could do pretty much everything.

I think the reason for the lawsuit was they are both grill makers, the TEC seems to be made to far better quality standards than the rt, so there is that. Plus I had read that a former rt employee works at a grill store and people would see the name TEC and come in wanting rectec stuff.

I have not seen the new designed with the glass plates. I may need to stop and look a them, but still can't afford that much.

[thenap]

Bought Tec Sterling in 1997. They Stand by their Product. Still use it. I Believe they invented Infared Grills. Thermal Engineering Corporation
Columbia sc. Paid a Small fortune for it about $2000.00 in 1997. Used about 5 times a week, then bought 2010 Memphis Pro. Still use it Weekly.
Not you normal Gas Grill, had a big learning curve from old weber back then. This grill will get hit high temps in 5 minutes. It does reach the 900* easily, have incinerated a few pork chops when not watching. Tough to beat for finishing Sous Vide. They are the only Company that I have seen with their 800 number on Front of Lid with Name of Grill. Had a burner go out after 15 years and they sent me a New one. I don't know if they are still a top notch company. I do Not Regret my Purchase. Never tried foil smoke or can smoke with this unit. Not purchased for smoked food at anytime.

[okie smokie]

Bought Tec Sterling in 1997. They Stand by their Product. Still use it. I Believe they invented Infared Grills. Thermal Engineering Corporation
Columbia sc. Paid a Small fortune for it about $2000.00 in 1997. Used about 5 times a week, then bought 2010 Memphis Pro. Still use it Weekly.
Not you normal Gas Grill, had a big learning curve from old weber back then. This grill will get hit high temps in 5 minutes. It does reach the 900* easily, have incinerated a few pork chops when not watching. Tough to beat for finishing Sous Vide. They are the only Company that I have seen with their 800 number on Front of Lid with Name of Grill. Had a burner go out after 15 years and they sent me a New one. I don't know if they are still a top notch company. I do Not Regret my Purchase. Never tried foil smoke or can smoke with this unit. Not purchased for smoked food at anytime.

Does yours have the glass burner plates or is it the older design. I don't know when they made the change.

[ba123]

@thenap Do you still use both your Memphis and the TEC?

I'm new on the forum, but planning an outdoor kitchen that I've wanted for-ever and I do not plan on skimping...

Going Memphis Elite and then was thinking a nice size infrared sear station (to finish off my sous-vide) but seems that they all top out pretty small and the TEC I could use for that as well as so many other things. Neither one of these is cheap, but I think I'd use both...especially with all of the add-ons! I wish they had something in between the two sizes though.

Any advice from anyone appreciated!

[thenap]

Yep Still use both. I believe they might be different since 1997. Mine is built in outdoor. Love the quality but since patent has run out years ago I have seen many infrared Grills a lot cheaper. In Ca we have too many of these spare the air days, but I still use the Memphis a lot more. Both units are of equal quality.

[thenap]

Sorry no glass on mine. Also bought deep fryer and griddle. First time I the griddle, I stepped away for about 10min I had both burners on high and Lid closed. When I lifted the lid the griddle was tweaked so much it was unusable. Lesson learned the hard way.

[pmillen]

Love the quality but since patent has run out years ago I have seen many infrared Grills a lot cheaper.

I bought one of the cheaper CharBroil IR grills 10 or 12 years ago because I thought that it would emulate the TEC that I saw.  It was disappointing in almost every way.

[BigDave83]

Love the quality but since patent has run out years ago I have seen many infrared Grills a lot cheaper.

I bought one of the cheaper CharBroil IR grills 10 or 12 years ago because I thought that it would emulate the TEC that I saw.  It was disappointing in almost every way.

I remember looking at them they pretty much just put a curved plate over the burner so it could not flair up, but used the same burners. I didn't buy one as I thought that is not the same as the TEC design. It may be closer now, I am not sure what type of burners TEC uses now.

[okie smokie]

Love the quality but since patent has run out years ago I have seen many infrared Grills a lot cheaper.

I bought one of the cheaper CharBroil IR grills 10 or 12 years ago because I thought that it would emulate the TEC that I saw.  It was disappointing in almost every way.

I remember looking at them they pretty much just put a curved plate over the burner so it could not flair up, but used the same burners. I didn't buy one as I thought that is not the same as the TEC design. It may be closer now, I am not sure what type of burners TEC uses now.

TEC uses a custom shaped gas burner (either for propane or nat'l gas) that sits in a large space below the glass plates. The plates are special infrared diffusers that takes the heat and diffuses it uniformly over the entire surface.  No worry about hot spots at all. Very simple and ingenious. You never see the burners that are below except thru a peep hole (just to make sure ignition was ok). One of their videos show the parts. If I had the need, I would have one.