Good Choice!!!!
I have both. I have been flying the CH Combat Stick Pro throttle and pro pedals for about two and a half years happily or so I thought. I still found myself using the keyboard a lot though.
So I decided this December to get the Cougar and give it a try. From the moment I took it out of the box I dug it. Every time I sat down with the CH stuff( Top Quality mind you) I always felt like I was playing a game. Once you sit behind the Cougar and feel the metal in your palms it becomes something else all together. Total immersion!!! I rarely look at the keyboard now. The Cougar is the only true HOTAS due to it's programmability.
In January I went to replace the springs with the lighter F22 springs and ran into the very cheap pots in the Cougar. The wires are gingerly soldered to the thin and tiny pot leads and one broke off. I was so pissed. My Cougar was now dead and I had to go back to my CH Setup. I missed it tremendously. The CH set up while adequate just does not have the programmability and my flying suffered.
I recommend Ian's Uber mod. Since my Cougar was down I decided to have it done and it is amazing. Not only will it drastically prolong the life of the gimbals it makes for a very smooth feel.
I am still waiting for the HAL sensors, but thank god TM was quick to get me a new pot free of charge. I got the stick gimbals back from Ian and the pot two days later and was up and running. All in all it took about a month down time to have the mod done but it was well worth the wait.
For equal dollars CH vs. Cougar, as an old CH HOTAS user, your money is better spent on the Cougar.
Mars.
