I do own both, and it's a rather interesting story. I bought the Yeti as a Xmas gift for myself last year, but as luck would have it, I never had the time to run it, and when I did, the weather was just bloody awful. So instead, I followed various Yeti groups to see what others were experiencing with their rigs. I basically came to the same conclusion as you did. Stock, it was only so-so. To make it anywhere near reliable would require another investment of probably several hundred dollars. Just an aluminum rear axle would set you back close to US$200. I decided that I'm just going to box it back up and sell it on eBay. I figure I can recoup most of my cost since it's never been run. At any rate, one of the guys mentioned that he had wished he had just gotten an Arrma Kraton, Talion, Typhon, or Senton, and that piqued my curiosity. After some reading and watching of YouTube videos, I figured the stock Senton would be more durable than the Yeti ever could be and without the additional cost, so here I am with two brand new trucks that I haven't been able to run yet! Haha!
In all fairness, the Yeti does look like a lot of fun, and if I was able to be more fiscally insensitive where my hobby is concerned, I probably would throw money at it. There are some pretty bad ass rigs out there, but they didn't come cheap. The problem is that Axial used parts from low speed rigs in a high speed rig, so they can't really take the punishment. That's simply my opinion, though. I love the scale looks and had some plans for that, but in the end, I decided to avoid the cash hemorrhaging altogether.
As it is, it hurts when I think about how much I've put into my E-Maxx over the years, and I still have many parts to actually install. I've just been waiting, because it didn't make sense to tear it down just to do it again when I got the remaining parts to make it brushless worthy. Fortunately, I got that truck before we had our son! If you know anyone who is interested in an Axial Yeti RTR with 0 miles on it, let me know.
