I have both Cougar and a CH Fighterstick/Pro Throttle/Pro Pedals set up. Both set ups cost about the same, once you buy pedals for the Cougar. The Cougar is an impressive piece of equipment and it looks good on my shelf, but I use the CH stuff.
The following is purely my personal view, and I know that many (who are much better virtual pilots than me) disagree. That said, here is my take on the Cougar:
Pros
1. The all-metal look and feel is first rate, and the Cougar appears to be a high-fidelity copy of the real F16's control stick.
2. The switches are solid and the increased throw of the primary hat switch allows more accuracy when selecting views.
3. Its programmability is incredible. You can make it do (almost) whatever you can imagine.
4. The resolution of the pots is excellent, although their precision is offset to some extent by the joystick's play about its center and the stiffness of the springs (see below).
5. The throttle has two rotary axes that you can program to issue keypresses or program to an analog control. They would be ideal to control trim in AH, if it had the ability to map analog axes to the trim controls.
Cons
1. The default spring tension is far too strong (for my liking), and attempting to lessen the tension by bending or replacing the springs (with F22 springs, available from Thrustmaster via their web site for about $10) yielded a very "sloppy" center with a "mushy" feel.
2. There is entirely too much x and y axis play in the stick. I would say that each of my Cougars (I have had two, because I had to send the first back after the view hat switch went bad after about a month) had as much or more axis play than an old X36 stick that I have used for about a year. I have tried the non-exotic mods described on Cougar's world, to no perceivable effect.
3. Because the spring tension is so strong in both the x and y directions, it feels like there is a detent when the stick is centered. There is not, of course, but attempting small, precise movements away from center was difficult (for me). Attempting to transition the stick smoothly along a diagonal through the center point was particularly difficult.
4. The Cougar Control panel allows you great flexibility in setting up axis response curves, deadbands, etc. for all of the Cougar's axes. Using any but the default linear settings yielded erratic results in AH, however. There is at least one thread about setting up the Cougar's axes in the AH forums, so if you go this route, I suggest you dig it up.
5. Cougar allows you to plug in a "standard" set of analog rudder pedals (e.g., TM Elite Pedals, CH Pedals, or CH Pro Pedals (gameport, not USB)). If you do so, the Cougar will recognize the rudder axis but not the toe brake axes (in the case of CH Pro Pedals, for instance). You can rewire the Pro Pedals to make them work (I have done this), but it is a nuisance. If you only want to use you Cougar for AH, just get a set of CH Pro Pedals USB, because AH (unlike some other games like Mechwarrior IV, etc.) has no trouble with multiple control devices.
6. After using the CH setup, I miss the extra buttons and hat switches on the CH Pro Throttle that are not on the Cougar throttle. Because AH does not allow analog trim axes, I don't miss Cougar's analog rotaries.
I hope that is useful.
- JNOV
