Imthatguy's Yeti XL Review/Teardown NOW wITH VideO
Before I start, I must thank the good folks at Axial for sending me this pre-release Yeti XL. I'm honoured to have the opportunity to offer my opinion on a new and exciting product. THANK YOU!
I'm going to do this review in a couple of parts. First, an exhaustive box and contents review.
The box is huge.
You can fit three Wraith boxes in a box this size, maybe more. It's also quite good for building a fort, or if you have a good imagination, a rocket ship. There's no real way to appreciate it's size. Shipping things this size will definitely cost extra.
Lucky for me, inside this box, was yet another gorgeous box. Roughly the same size as the box that this box was in. I imagine that the average customer won't get both boxes. The advantage of having the privilege of reviewing a pre-release product, I imagine.
There's a lot of pretty graphics describing the contents. Once I get to the specifics, I'll touch on all the things they mention. There's a lot of innovation here that's definitely new to me.
A instruction book and Axial standard 2.4 Ghz radio are the first things that came out of the box. There's nothing new to this radio, it's the same model that comes with all of Axial's RTR vehicles.
Next, I was presented with a number of spare parts bags and a tool which I can only imagine is for warding off evil spirits. The Power of 6S compels you! It's also pretty awesome that Axial upsized their driver heads which first appeared on the Deadbolt. They look to be a similar scale as a Wild Willy head, so imagine the comedy of putting one of them on that body!
And now, the Yeti XL!
This thing is huge. Coming from a 9th/10th scale background, it takes a bit of getting used to. When I received the original Yeti, it took me some time to get over it's size. 2.2's have always seemed sort of the maximum size I could comprehend, so imagine my surprise. Here it is up against the Yeti Jr.
This version of the Yeti is completely new. I can't find a single carryover from any of Axial's other releases. The rear axle is massive, and very beefy on initial inspection.
The way that the driveshaft is integrated into the axle is a pretty trick design. I'll have to pull it apart to learn a bit more about it. This might be a new innovation, or it's something that's typical to this scale. I admit, that Monsters like this, and I guess, the Revo, or HPI (insert name of truck I can't remember) are not something I have much experience with.
The front diff, and in fact, all of the front drivetrain elements are a lot more rigid than I thought based on pictures from the pre-release photos. There was some concern that things weren't going to be strong enough or the plastic might be too bendy. Looks plenty strong to me. I'll save my final answer for after I've actually driven it, but I can say that there's some unique touches to the rear trailing arms that sandwich multiple pieces of plastic together for added strength. And as a byproduct, cheaper, easier replacement of individual bits, rather than the whole thing. Smart.
Nice to see some aluminum inserts holding the front to the main chassis.
Getting at the electronics is as easy as removing two body clips. The body is hinged to the chassis at the rear. Nice. Taking the body off completely requires unscrewing two screws that clip the body to the hinge assembly. Power comes from what looks like a rebranded Castle Mamba Monster mated to a 2200kv brushless motor. I'm a little scared of it. 6S seems like absolute insanity to me. I like the way the batteries mount on either side of the chassis. Fitting a 5000mAh 3S battery looks like it might be a bit tight. I'll give it a fit test tomorrow. I'm worried about the lack of torque from the included servo. 151 oz/inches doesn't seem like much for a truck of this weight. We'll see how that holds up, maybe it'll surprise me. I'm still running all the stock stuff in the Yeti Jr, so who knows?
I can definitely see a few future vehicles coming from this platform. Perhaps there's even a solid front axle version in the works...
I'm excited to take this out for a shakedown. And a video!
If you've got any measurement questions, or any questions at all, I'll do my best to answer them.
Stay tuned...
Before I start, I must thank the good folks at Axial for sending me this pre-release Yeti XL. I'm honoured to have the opportunity to offer my opinion on a new and exciting product. THANK YOU!
I'm going to do this review in a couple of parts. First, an exhaustive box and contents review.
The box is huge.
You can fit three Wraith boxes in a box this size, maybe more. It's also quite good for building a fort, or if you have a good imagination, a rocket ship. There's no real way to appreciate it's size. Shipping things this size will definitely cost extra.
Lucky for me, inside this box, was yet another gorgeous box. Roughly the same size as the box that this box was in. I imagine that the average customer won't get both boxes. The advantage of having the privilege of reviewing a pre-release product, I imagine.
There's a lot of pretty graphics describing the contents. Once I get to the specifics, I'll touch on all the things they mention. There's a lot of innovation here that's definitely new to me.
A instruction book and Axial standard 2.4 Ghz radio are the first things that came out of the box. There's nothing new to this radio, it's the same model that comes with all of Axial's RTR vehicles.
Next, I was presented with a number of spare parts bags and a tool which I can only imagine is for warding off evil spirits. The Power of 6S compels you! It's also pretty awesome that Axial upsized their driver heads which first appeared on the Deadbolt. They look to be a similar scale as a Wild Willy head, so imagine the comedy of putting one of them on that body!
And now, the Yeti XL!
This thing is huge. Coming from a 9th/10th scale background, it takes a bit of getting used to. When I received the original Yeti, it took me some time to get over it's size. 2.2's have always seemed sort of the maximum size I could comprehend, so imagine my surprise. Here it is up against the Yeti Jr.
This version of the Yeti is completely new. I can't find a single carryover from any of Axial's other releases. The rear axle is massive, and very beefy on initial inspection.
The way that the driveshaft is integrated into the axle is a pretty trick design. I'll have to pull it apart to learn a bit more about it. This might be a new innovation, or it's something that's typical to this scale. I admit, that Monsters like this, and I guess, the Revo, or HPI (insert name of truck I can't remember) are not something I have much experience with.
The front diff, and in fact, all of the front drivetrain elements are a lot more rigid than I thought based on pictures from the pre-release photos. There was some concern that things weren't going to be strong enough or the plastic might be too bendy. Looks plenty strong to me. I'll save my final answer for after I've actually driven it, but I can say that there's some unique touches to the rear trailing arms that sandwich multiple pieces of plastic together for added strength. And as a byproduct, cheaper, easier replacement of individual bits, rather than the whole thing. Smart.
Nice to see some aluminum inserts holding the front to the main chassis.
Getting at the electronics is as easy as removing two body clips. The body is hinged to the chassis at the rear. Nice. Taking the body off completely requires unscrewing two screws that clip the body to the hinge assembly. Power comes from what looks like a rebranded Castle Mamba Monster mated to a 2200kv brushless motor. I'm a little scared of it. 6S seems like absolute insanity to me. I like the way the batteries mount on either side of the chassis. Fitting a 5000mAh 3S battery looks like it might be a bit tight. I'll give it a fit test tomorrow. I'm worried about the lack of torque from the included servo. 151 oz/inches doesn't seem like much for a truck of this weight. We'll see how that holds up, maybe it'll surprise me. I'm still running all the stock stuff in the Yeti Jr, so who knows?
I can definitely see a few future vehicles coming from this platform. Perhaps there's even a solid front axle version in the works...
I'm excited to take this out for a shakedown. And a video!
If you've got any measurement questions, or any questions at all, I'll do my best to answer them.
Stay tuned...
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