Recteq sells two grills with “Backyard Beast” in the name, and the number after it isn’t a model generation — it’s the cook space. Confuse the 1000 for an older, smaller edition of the 1200 and you’ll misjudge both the price gap and what you’re actually giving up.
Quick Answer
The Recteq Backyard Beast 1200 (RT-1200BB) is a crowd-sized pellet grill with 1,220 sq in of cook space across a main grate plus a sliding second rack, a 30 lb hopper good for about 30 hours of continuous cooking, a 180-700°F range, dual-band WiFi, and a 6-year limited warranty on parts — all for $1,199.99 direct from Recteq, per the brand’s own listing. The easy mistake: Recteq also sells a Backyard Beast 1000 at just $100 less ($1,099.99) with meaningfully less cook space (1,014 sq in). That’s not an older version being phased out — it’s a separate current size in the same tier, the same two-sizes-one-price-bracket pattern this site has already flagged on Recteq’s Deck Boss 590/800/900 lineup.
Recteq Backyard Beast 1200 at a glance
| Spec | Recteq Backyard Beast 1200 |
|---|---|
| Cook space | 1,220 sq in (main grate + sliding second rack) |
| Hopper | 30 lb (~30 hrs per fill) |
| Temperature range | 180-700°F |
| Controller | Dual-band WiFi app |
| Construction | 304 stainless steel firepot and grate system, cast iron heat deflector |
| Weight | 193 lb (unit) |
| Warranty | 6 years, parts and workmanship, per Recteq |
| Price | $1,199.99 direct from Recteq, matched by Abt |
The honesty-hook: “1000” isn’t the little brother of “1200”
The natural assumption, seeing “Backyard Beast 1000” and “Backyard Beast 1200” sold side by side, is that the 1000 is a discontinued or budget-tier predecessor to the 1200. It isn’t. Both are current Recteq products, per Recteq’s own product pages and matching listings at Ace Hardware and Abt: the 1000 (RT-1000BB) runs $1,099.99 against the 1200’s $1,199.99 — a $100 gap — while the cook space difference is far bigger than the price gap suggests. Recteq lists the 1000 at 1,014 sq in total and the 1200 at 1,220 sq in, a roughly 206 sq in (about 20%) difference for just $100 more.
What doesn’t change between them: both carry the same 30 lb hopper, the same 180-700°F range, the same dual-band WiFi, and — per the spec sheets both models publish — the same 6-year warranty figure. So the “1000” and “1200” aren’t generation numbers or a before/after story; they’re simply the two cook-space options Recteq currently sells in this tier, priced close enough together that cook space is really the only thing you’re deciding on. That’s the same naming shape this site has already documented on Recteq’s Deck Boss line, where the 590, 800, and 900 are parallel current sizes rather than successive replacements — see our Deck Boss 590 review for that comparison.
Recteq Backyard Beast 1200 (RT-1200BB)
- 1,220 sq in cook space with a sliding second rack — room for 50 burgers, 8 racks of baby back ribs, or 9 pork butts at once, per Recteq.
- 30 lb hopper (~30 hrs/fill) — 10 lb less than the RT-700 and Flagship 1600, despite more cook space than the RT-700.
- 304 stainless steel firepot and grate system with a cast iron heat deflector.
- 6-year limited warranty on parts, matching the RT-700 and Flagship 1600 — two years longer than the RT-590's 4-year term.
Stocking the hopper and the fridge for a cook this size takes planning ahead — Amazon Fresh can get the pellets and the meat delivered on the same schedule instead of a last-minute store run.
Backyard Beast 1200 vs. the rest of Recteq’s big grills
| Backyard Beast 1000 | Backyard Beast 1200 | RT-700 "Bull" | Flagship 1600 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook space | 1,014 sq in | 1,220 sq in | 702 sq in | 1,667 sq in |
| Hopper | 30 lb | 30 lb | 40 lb | 40 lb |
| Max temp | 700°F | 700°F | 700°F | 700°F |
| Price | $1,099.99 | $1,199.99 | ~$1,199 | $1,599.99 |
Against the RT-700, the Backyard Beast 1200 trades 10 lb of hopper capacity for 518 extra sq in of cook space at almost the identical price — the better buy for feeding a crowd, the RT-700 the better buy for long overnight cooks where hopper runtime matters more than grate space. Against the Flagship 1600, the Backyard Beast 1200 gives up 447 sq in and 10 lb of hopper to save $400. See our full best Recteq pellet grill roundup for how all five current models stack up, and our Flagship 1600 review for the step-up comparison.
Who should actually buy the Backyard Beast 1200
- Buy it if: you regularly cook for 10+ people and want meaningfully more grate space than the RT-700 without jumping to Flagship money.
- Consider the Backyard Beast 1000 instead if: your group size is closer to 8 people — it saves $100 on an otherwise near-identical grill, though you give up roughly 20% of the cook space.
- Consider the RT-700 instead if: overnight hopper runtime matters more than raw grate space — see our Recteq RT-700 review.
- Skip it if: you’re assuming the “1000” is an old, discontinued edition — it isn’t, and comparing the two by that assumption instead of by cook space will cost you $100 for the wrong reason either way.
The verdict
The Recteq Backyard Beast 1200 is a legitimately crowd-capable pellet grill — 1,220 sq in, a 6-year warranty matching the brand’s RT-700 and Flagship 1600, and the same 304 stainless construction Recteq uses across its mainline. The real trap isn’t the grill itself; it’s assuming its “1000” sibling is a smaller, older version rather than a separate current size priced just $100 apart. Check cook space, not the model number’s size, before picking between them.
Last updated: October 28, 2026.