I have owned and used both setups you are considering. As I see it, the Cougar is superior and worth the extra money (having used Cougar, I likely would have paid 2-3 times as much), although the CH setup is excellent as well. Here are the pros and cons as I see them:
Physical characteristics. The (almost) all-metal construction of the Cougar is unbelievable. The stick and throttle are beautiful and VERY solid. The hat switches on the Cougar, and particularly the "coolie" (i.e., trim) switch have longer throws than the hat switches on the CH gear, making them more precise and easier to use. The Cougar's springs initially seemed too strong for my liking, but that is probably because this is my first Thrustmaster stick. Now that I am getting used to the Cougar, I actually like the force required to move the stick. I think it aids maneuvering precision and detracts from yanking one's plane around and burning energy. Just be aware that if you are used to CH, Saitek, or MS sticks, there will be an adjustment period before you can fly as capably with the Cougar.
The CH gear is made out of industrial-grade plastic and is also very solid. The shapes of the CH and Cougar sticks are quite similar (as you would expect, given their inspiration). The CH stick can be deflected with MUCH less force than the Cougar. Notwithstanding the differences in the two sticks, both afford excellent control. Although I prefer the Cougar, I think that many people that primarily play WWII sims may prefer the lighter throw of the CH stick.
The CH throttle slides forward and back, and the Cougar throttle rotates around a pivot point. I think that both configurations work fine, but I prefer the rotating throttle to the sliding one. Also, the buttons and hats on the CH throttle appear to be a custom design, while the Cougar throttle is modeled after the F-16 throttle. Both the Cougar and the CH throttle offer mini-joysticks, but the Cougar provides two additional analog axes in the form of rotary dials (similar to those found on the Saitek X36/X45 throttle). The CH throttle, on the other hand, offers additional hat switches and buttons on its throttle.
Both HOTAS set-ups allow three different configurations in which keypresses can be assigned different meanings. One nice feature of the CH stick is that the current "mode" is indicated by an LED. The Cougar has no such feature (for, one assumes, reasons of modeling accuracy).
Programming. Both setups come with software that automates, to some degree, the process of programming the HOTAS. The CH control manager software is probably easier to use, but the programming flexibility offered by Cougar is unparalled. I love to code, so the Cougar's programming flexibility was enough to sell me on the unit. Here are a few of the cool things you can do with the Cougar:
1. Use logical variables. This is a feature that is tremendously powerful and will allow you to do things that you simply cannot do with the CH HOTAS.
2. Program axes digitally. Although you can do this with the CH software, Cougar allows you to program the axes digitally while retaining their analog capability. I believe that the CH axes are either analog or digital but not both. Also, the flexiblity with which the Cougar axes can be programmed is amazing. The possiblities are almost endless.
3. Simulate axes. With Cougar, you can actually simulate axes that do not physically exist. For example, if you want analog toe brake axes in AH but don't have toe brakes, there are any number of ways you can simulate left and right toe brake axes. Very cool stuff.
4. Trim, scale, lock, swap, reverse axes. With Cougar, you can trim, lock, unlock, swap, reverse, scale, etc. your analog axes while you are in a sim. For instance, you can program the joystick and rudder axes to be more responsive while you are dogfighting than when you are landing.
Cougar's programmability is amazing. The downside, of course, is that to access that capability, you have to spend some time figuring out how it all works. On the other hand, there are a number of canned profiles that ship with the stick, and many people make their custom profiles available for download on the web. I would be happy to send you mine if you like.
Rudders and toe brakes. If there is a significant downside to the Cougar, this is it. With CH, you can simply by a USB throttle, Fighterstick, and Pro Pedals and integrate them using CH's Control Manager software. That gives you access to rudder and toe brake axes. Cougar was designed to be compatible with gameport rudder sets, like the CH Pro Pedals (NOT USB), CH Pedals, TM Elite Pedals, etc. Even so, none of those rudders, even the ones with toe brakes (i.e., CH Pro Pedals), will provide toe brake functionality with the Cougar. You can modify the gameport CH Pro Pedals so that Cougar will recognize the rudder and toe brake axes, but a bit of rewiring is required (I have done this and it works great!)
In my opinion, both the CH and Cougar set-ups are excellent options and we as simmers are lucky to have the variety. For my money, however, Cougar is the better choice.
- JNOV
