You really should give it another try.
It takes a little time to get used to the feel of it, but it's worth it. You get what you pay for, a really good product. It's pretty common to hate the things for the first week. Pedals were even worse!
After only using CH for x # of years, I'm currently on some $50 Thrustmaster stick. Night and day.
As far as buttons, just program the essentials at first. You can do all of this within AH which is easier than CH's control software. There are tutorials and help files written out to help you program the gear too.
Once you get used to those, you can start to branch out towards your 198 programables
