Author Topic: CH vs Cougar ? (Read 1918 times)

Hristo · « **on:** February 21, 2003, 12:25:26 AM »

I am primarily interested in feedback from people that have tried both products.

How do they compare ?

Thanks.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2003, 01:23:08 AM »

I don't think either one comes with leather straps Hristo..

Doberman · « **Reply #2 on:** February 21, 2003, 09:30:11 AM »

Posted just yesterday in another thread.

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I've got both the CH Pro setup and a TM Cougar. Both have their pros & cons.

The CH has more hats & buttons on the throttle, IMO making that part a bit more useful for WB. Another 4 way hat or even a coupla buttons on the TM throttle would make layouts more intuitive.
All 5 of the Cougars hats can work as 8-way hats (as can the mouse stick), as opposed to only 2 on the CH (1 on the stick and 1 on the throttle.)
CH has much lighter forces required to move the stick (this is a pro or con depending on how you like the stick to feel.)
The Cougar is WAY more programmable. The things you can do with this setup are simply astonishing. Stuff like setting WEP to the final 2% of the throttle throw, ejecting only after holding down 2 buttons for 2.5 seconds, on the fly modifying the stick response curves for easier handeling while in landing mode, etc. See http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/...hp?s=&forumid=8 for many other ideas. You'll see that there's a whole Cougar community, just like the AH community. There's dozens of mods which will make this top line piece of equipment even better and some absolute programming wizards. Honestly, the Cougar can do things which you just can't believe.
A con against the TM is that, at the moment, there are no TM rudders available which plug into it. Older (not currently being produced) TM Elite pedals and some aftermarket serial pedals will plug in to the port on the back of the stick, but I don't believe there are any which have toe brakes. TM is supposedly gonna release some, but I've heard no word recently as to when that may happen. The problem with this is, some games only recognize one controller. AH isn't affected, cuz you can assign commands to any of the controllers you have hooked up. Some other sims though (can't name one off the top of my head though, as all the others I fly recognize multiple controllers. Falcon 4 maybe? I've got it installed, but haven't played it in some time.) won't see more than one. So you don't get rudders. Plug-in rudders would be seen as just another axis on the Cougar. The CH programming software allows you to map all three USB devices (stick, throttle, rudder) as one controller. If you fly mostly AH or don't NEED toe brakes, this is no big deal. I personally use CH Pro Pedals along with my Cougar.
The Cougar is simply WAY cooler. No doubt about that. Heavy metal, trick looking, shiney, etc.

If I could only have one? I'd choose the Cougar simply because it's a neater piece of equipment and has more abilities.

Revvin · « **Reply #3 on:** February 21, 2003, 10:30:47 AM »

^ thats a pretty fair evaluation although I will mention TM Elite's are still available in the US (I imported some for my Cougar)

If the Cougar did'nt exist then it would be a choice out of the Saitek X45 or the CH Pro Throttle/stick. I much prefer the arc type motion of the Saitek stick (same style as Cougar throttle movement) over that of the sliding motion of the Pro Throttle and I found the slide motion far to easy to move the throttle so that when I had things like bomber controls mapped to it I'd accidentally move the throttle or if I had my hand rested on the throttle (Cougar has a tension wheel to set it as you wish).

Overall if the Cougar did'nt exist I'd probably go back to CH for the build quality but as the Cougar does exist then for me there is no contest its the Cougar every time.

Wlfgng · « **Reply #4 on:** February 21, 2003, 01:34:47 PM »

I agree Revvin.. I just plug my old Elite pedals into my cougar and I'm away..
I tried the CH pedals but there was no resitance (to speak of) and it was strange.. having a stiff springed joystick and whimpy pedals..

I went back to the TM pedals even though they don't have toe brakes.

Vladd · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2003, 01:47:37 PM »

Used CH fighterstick for 2 years, before buying a Cougar. As I'm sure you know it's heavier than the CH setup, which some people have found hurts their accuracy. I didn't find adjusting to the new 'feel' that hard, however.

If you can live with the fact that at some point it's likely you'll have to open the Cougar up and clean the pots, it is superior. Mine worked fine for 5 months of moderate use, then the throttle pot started playing up really bad. Many on Cougarworld have had similar trouble, so the quality of the internals is definately not all it should be. Cleaning the pots however is not that hard to do.

I'd regard going back to CH from a working Cougar as stepping back to an inferior product in all respects but one: the CH pots are definately more reliable.

Vladd

funkedup · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2003, 06:51:55 PM »

Quote

The Cougar is WAY more programmable.

I think the latest version of the CH software (Control Manager 2.0) has pretty much drawn even with the programming ability of the Cougar. They've created a programming language for the CH stuff that looks pretty similar to the Cougar programming language.

Revvin · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2003, 07:04:40 PM »

Logical programming for CH gear?

Batz · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2003, 07:30:54 PM »

I have all ch stuff but I dont use the control manager, from what I have read and heard the the new cm 2 is pretty decent and has lotsa programing options.

SOB · « **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2003, 11:12:12 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by funkedup
I think the latest version of the CH software (Control Manager 2.0) has pretty much drawn even with the programming ability of the Cougar. They've created a programming language for the CH stuff that looks pretty similar to the Cougar programming language.

Yay CH Products! And it only took ya 7 years to catch up!

SOB

Mini D · « **Reply #10 on:** February 21, 2003, 11:46:51 PM »

Damn... this ain't nothing like the CH vs TM fights of old. No spirit in the kids these days. I tell ya man...

By the way... your average limp wristed CH user can't even lift a Cougar.

MiniD

Hristo · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2003, 03:05:13 AM »

Thanks for your replies. I am actually close to buying a new Hotas and have narrowed my options to the mentioned two.

Despite my bad experience with TM before, I am still slightly favoring the Cougar. But its stability (especially pots) worries me - actually a long story.

HAL mod is quite an expensive option, especially when you consider you'll have to solve center play too.

FOGOLD · « **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2003, 06:48:57 AM »

I have had a Cougar for a while and it's fine. No problem with pots yet and I dont see why I should. Centre play is there but I never notice it.

DmdBT · « **Reply #13 on:** February 22, 2003, 09:49:15 AM »

Bought my CH F16 Fighterstick and Pro-Throttle just after the '96 AW con in Florida and have only had to change the pots and springs on the stick little over a year ago. This setup has been rock-solid otherwise and very dependable. I hear people are having problems with the Cougar, with Cougar support, and no plans are in the works for new "grips" as they said in pre-development. One good thing to say for TM, I am still using my original rudder pedals, the TM RCS set bought when I first started this silly addiction way back in 94'ish.
When this stick finally fails you can be assured the replacement will be from CH.

funkedup · « **Reply #14 on:** February 22, 2003, 05:18:20 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Revvin
Logical programming for CH gear?

Yep. Reading the documentation made my eyes glaze over. I read the Cougar documentation too and got a similar effect. So I judge them both equal in their ability to bore me to tears with complexity of programming. One of them may have an edge but to find out, we will need a reviewer with a much higher boredom threshold than mine.