Thrustmaster Cougar.....

[Flossy]

I've had my Cougar since a week after they became available in the UK..... and I love it.    Fortunately, I don't have to concern myself with programming apart from giving my husband opinions of what I would like it to do.  Mine and Zeb's profile is available somewhere in the Hardware forum..... however, we may be changing this soon after working closely with a guy in Germany who specialises in this kind of programming and has almost completed a profile which we will be testing.  He doesn't fly AH himself, though has downloaded it and flys offline for research purposes, so it has been a long process with him asking lots of questions about how things work....  

Anyway, as for the Cougar itself.... yes, the joystick is big, and I only have small hands.... but I got used to large joystick's when I used to use CH gear, and physically it is no bigger than the ForceFX I used to use.  I don't find the "stiffness" a problem either - if anything it makes the more limited movement more positive..... and before anyone says, "but you never fly fighters" well, while that may be true, I still need to be pretty nippy with the stick in GVs, especially when under heavy attack, so I probably have to move it just as much.  

Go for it, get a Cougar.....  

[Revvin]

I've owned a few TM sticks since buying a PFCS and a WCS II many many years ago, I then bought an F16 FLCS and TQS throttle and never had a spiky pot in either of them.

[qts]

I've owned many sticks - Saitek Cyborg, X36, Suncom stick and dual throttle, and the Cougar, as well as several low-grade sticks - I've been playing games on computers ever since I got a ZX81 and then an Apple ][ (remember the paddles?). The Cougar's quality exceeds them all. It's the best stick and throttle I've ever had. Second would be the Suncom kit; third the Saitek.

Programming-wise you don't have to do more than assign DX buttons to functions, but that merely scratches the surface and the programming capabilities are deep.

[Revvin]

He doesn't fly AH himself, though has downloaded it and flys offline for research purposes

Sounds like a chap who's been mailing me too LOL

[Pongo]

recomended.
stiff springs.
Great feel to the metal stick
Great flexibility to program.

[icemaw]

Originally posted by maxtor
Use a Radio Shack gameport to USB adapter.  I think is about $15 cat no is 26-164 part number sticker on back is 06A01

Will make anything gameport work USB.

I went and found it for ya

 yes this will make the joystick work sort of with windows XP however none of the buttons or hats will work. This adapter is great when useing on a win 98 2000 or ME system but it will not work correctly with XP

[VAQ]

Originally posted by Rude
...wish someone here in KC used the Cougar gear so I could do the touchy feely thing...

Rude

I have Cougar #03639.  I will be out of the country from Wednesday, Jan. 15, until Tuesday, Jan. 21.  You are welcome to use my controls sir.

I think I am only about 10 miles away (Peculiar).



(edit- spelling error)

[SOB]

Originally posted by g00b
I like the look and feel of the TM stuff but they just can't seem to find good pots for these things. Kinda scary as they supposedly make sticks for the military and space programs.

The only controllers ThrustMaster ever made specifically for the military were very expensive replicas of the control used in the space shuttle.  They were made to be used by astronauts on a portable simulator.  I can assure you that they didn't use the same potentiometers they used in any of their joysticks...as a matter of fact, I don't think they used potentiometers at all.


SOB

[Wlfgng]

everyone says the 'springs are so heavy' and I have to laugh.
I think they're just right. .maybe even a bit soft.

quality is top notch

programming outside of AH far exceeds IN AH..
why?
macros, macros, macros.. you can do so much more than just simple flight controls.

you can take the thing apart easily, it's solid and well designed.

not perfect but nothing else on the market touches it.

--
well said SOB

[Gryffin]

My cougar experience:

The springs felt extremely stiff the first few times I ised it, but the softened up quite dramatically over the first 2 weeks of use. I think they are perfect now, and found it hard to go back to a normal joystick, which feels way to soft to me.

The first major problem I had with my stick was that after a couple of weeks of use, I noticed that there was a bit of "slop" around the centre point ... i.e. you could move the stick a few millimetres each way before the springs engaged. Over a few months this slop zone grew (as the metal components stretched I assume) until it became unbearable. In the end I was able to move the stick 1.5 centimeters before the springs engaged.

I eventually solved this problem when I found a guy here in Australia who modifies the mechanism with specially machined metal plates. I have now had about 2 months on the modified stick and it is still nice and tight. Unfortunately, the cost was half what I paid for the stick in the first place

Now I have a new problem, spiky pots. Every thrustmaster stick I have ever used has had crappy quality spiky pots, and the cougar is no different. I remember on the message boards before the stick came out thrustmaster representatives assured me over and over that spiking will never occur with the cougar. 2 weeks after I got my stick it was spiking badly. I went to the message boards and there were literally dozens of people complaining about the same thing.

Cleaning the pots manually seemed to help ... for a while. After about the 10th time I cleaned the pots out I gave up. I am now using a crappy old Microsoft sidewinder stick that I have had for 2 years that still works perfectly and never needs recalibrating.

I now have to decide whether to just ditch my $AUD750 stick (ouch) or fork out another $AUD250 to get hall sensor pots (ouch). If I do that I will have a stick that should last 10 years ... but ffs, for the ridiculous price the thing should have worked out of the box!

I have also owned CH gear in the past and it lasted years with no problems. My advice to you, stick to CH. The cougar is an awesome concept but definately not worth the money. If I had my time again I would have gone CH again.

[Booky]

I have the Couger and use the TM Elite Pedals with it.

It is very stiff at first but will loossen up some after a bit of use. I also have had to clean the pots two times but now after reading this thread i think im going to just try the ol resetaru. I too have small hands but I still manage to reach everything ok. Just make sure you ahve a sturdy platform to lay it since I still have mine on my desk and reaching over to it makes things difficult. I ahve tried it on a temporary shelf on the side of my chair (like it should be and was meant to be) and it was way better but I jsut too lazy to make something tasteful to set by my desk.

I programed my own file but there are many other good ones out their. I think i started with someone elses macro file but I made my own file for the command lines. Foxy makes it very easy.

It is worth it for me, so I guess it is all up to how much you want to spend, and what you expect from it.

Booky

[Drex]

I have been using the same F22pro TQS combo since 1997.  My wife just bought me a Cougar, and I have been unsuccessful in getting it to work.  It hooks up fine, but once I have a file downloaded the buttons on the stick don't work.  I can't even upgrade the firmware as windows or the CCP doesn't recognize any buttons from the stick.  It registers axis input, but thats it.  The odd thing is the Throttle buttons deliver the correct output.  So I put it in the box and am planning on getting the SOB upgrade.  Which with plane ticket, beer, and assorted snacks should make my cougar final price around $3,459.  Not bad.

Drex

[FDutchmn]

My Cougar experience...

I used to use TM F22/WCS-II/RCS combination.  For a while I also used the TM Afterburner when the WCS-II broke.

The springs are hard, yes, but I like the feel of it.  I haven't changed the springs.

I have had my share of spiking, which was easily resolved by cleaning the pots with WD-40.

Programming isn't difficult.

I have to flash my bios once in a while, when things gets screwy.  Then it is fine again.

Generally I am satisfied with it.  I think it is worth the buy.  But if you start comparing it with the prices of other sticks... well... to be fair and honestly said, there are cheaper sticks out there.

There is one issue which I haven't been able to resolve yet.  I have to recalibrate every time I start up AH.  I have tried calibrating under Windows-Control Panel but somehow it does not work.  

Well that's it...

[Gman]

My major, and only complaint, was how I could never match my other sticks for precise movements at long range.

I tried hundreds, if not thousands of different curve/ah band settings for pitch, and could never match the precise aiming I could get with my other sticks (every other stick you've heard of) around the center.

I'd move the cougar stick just slightly on a 1.1k range shot, and it would overcorrect all the time.  It could have been just my stick, and I did try everything for 4 months, but after switching back to my older x45, my hit % went up by a factor of 10.

If I could have gotten that problem fixed, I would have been in the valhalla of Hotas'ness, such a sweet piece of kit, loved the metal construction, and even more powerfull programmability then my F22 set.

Werd

[GunnerCAF]

I have a Cougar and I think it's the best high-end joystick on the market.  I have had no problems with it.  I have not modified it.  

As for reliability of TM gear, I still have a FLCS/TQS and it works great after 6+ years of hard use.  It has the origional pots, it shows no spiking.  And it's still in use.

Gunner