Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar PC Flight Stick

I only want to comment with respect to the disappointing elevator/aileron "feel" of the Hotas Cougar Joystick. I had hoped it would mimic the gliding, effortless, detent-free feel joystick feel that makes flying an aircraft such as the Lancair 360 such sheer extacy. Instead the Cougar is a clumsy control that one has to horse around to perform even a simple coordinated turn. I just remembered what it reminded me of, the fawcet lever on my kitchen sink. It't too bad the Cougar may represent the state of the art of joysticks because for it takes much of the fun out of of sim flight. Flying an airplane with it feels more like driving a tank.

Purchased through a third party seller (My Great Values) used, upon delivery the UHF/VHF button was damaged but the switch still is functioning, the side of the stick housing is loose allowing dust to enter, and the speed brake and dogfight switch are not functional. I tested the switches with Thrustmasters software. Pretty frustrated with paying $350 for what I received.

I was SOOO happy to get these devices, get them hooked up to my old PC. They brought so much realism to my flights.

Throttle is spotty - radar responsiveness seems glitchy, for lack of a better word... The handles/metal construction is great, but it would appear that the internal components are questionable. Bummer. It's never have worked perfectly. My very old CH F-16 HOTAS buttons all work just fine. Wish this Cougar was as good inside as it is out.

For two years I owned a Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS, touted as the ultimate flight simmer's controller, and in that time I all but stopped simming. Honestly, in two years I flew perhaps a dozen hours at most. Before the Cougar, I simmed much more--off and on for years--and did so on lousy to middling equipment: bargain-bin trash, a CH Flightstick, and later, a CH Combatstick USB. By then I found myself playing Falcon 4.0 religiously, so when it became "necessary" to pick up a throttle, I passed over the homely CH Pro Throttle and reached for the sexy, uber-F16 controller, the Cougar.Next to the Cougar, any other controller looks like it came free with a Happy Meal. It's so sleek yet solid and rugged--it's simply gorgeous. You'll find yourself ogling it, polishing it, displaying it, and even fashioning dust covers for it. You'll also appreciate its features, ergonomics and simplicity. The trigger is dual-stage. Every button on the throttle falls under a finger. And that throttle, along with gameport rudder pedals (should you have them), plugs directly into the stick base, forging a single mega-controller with a gazillion buttons and axes, all routed to your PC through a single USB plug. Elegant.Packaged with the Cougar comes a simmer's dream date: a 183-page manual, your guide to the complex software suite that drives the Cougar. You'll want to take it to bed, curl up under a reading lamp and spend the night with it. But that's where the problems start. It doesn't illuminate; it obfuscates. If the Cougar Reference Manual concerned baseball, chapter one would be "The Infield Fly Rule," and the first page would delve into the Old English etymology of "field." In other words, one must learn Cougar-programming in spite of it. Expect to spend several Saturdays getting nowhere. Expect to procrastinate, and, for the thin-skinned among you, expect to give up. And that's too bad, because the point of owning a Cougar, besides its looks, is to harness its powerful programming features for your own purposes.Ultimately, though, the Cougar is a piece of hardware, and yes, a great looking one. So how does it feel? In a word, STIFF. As a former (and current) CH user, I found it difficult to make small, discreet motions with the stick and tiring to hold precise bank angles. I also found it tough to move the throttle; to paraphrase another reviewer, it's tough to get it going, and once going, tough to stop on a dime (though to be fair, it's the only throttle I've tried). Then there's the issue of bad potentiometers, a common Cougar complaint. Bad pots mean dead axes, and dirty pots mean "spiking" or sudden input surges. I experienced neither. Yet reading Cougar forums induces a nagging fear that those pots will eventually require replacement, or at least periodic cleaning. That's off-putting, to say the least; I thought the whole point of buying the best is so you don't have to do this. In fact, many a happy Cougar owner does this and more, tackling its shortcomings through third-party upgrades: new potentiometers, softer springs, precision-machined brass gimbals, aluminum switch casings, and so on. These mods require not only cash--lots of it--but time, technical expertise and a modest workshop, complete with soldering iron, multimeter and an assortment of lubricants and cleansers. Even getting the Cougar to work as advertised with CH Products' Pro Pedals Gameport (arguably the standard in analog pedals) takes a rewiring job. Not exactly plug-and-play.Clearly, there's a type of simmer who revels in this. He's the kind of person who loves to work on his car over the weekend. Personally, I'd rather drive my car and leave repairs to my local mechanic. In the case of the Cougar, unfortunately, that mechanic is you, baby, you! Do yourself a favor and take a personality test before buying one. If you lack the tinkerer temperament, not to mention time (sims take enough time already!), engineering smarts and excess cash, consider looking elsewhere. Or you just might end up doing what I did: nothing. I let my Cougar sit idle until one day I sold it.

The best joy sticks I have ever come across, excellent quality, all metal alloy and heavy base so it dose not move around on the table.Can't review the software it comes with because I prefer my own set up. They are exact copy of an F-16 flight stick and throttle.Been a flight simmer for years and use a lot of sticks and yokes but the Thrustmaster is the one to get.It can also has a lot of buttons to be program and I think 3times that with the software installed.

This thing rocks, after a short learning curve to master the programming software. I am using it for all my flight siming, currently working withEECH2, Microsoft Combat and FS, FA AA, Pacificfighters all of em and janes. It is a substantial piece of hardware and so far I've notice none of the draw backs some others have listed, including using my usb pedals with em. The factory sofeware works well and theres hundreds of user created variations out there. Beats the heck outta my Saitek x45

After a few years, the paint falls off.

Über die Qualität dieses Flightsticks muß man nicht berichten. Die Thrustmaster-Sticks gehören bekanntlich zum Besten, was der Konsumgütermarkt anbietet.Richtig an der Vorkritik ist allerdings, daß Thrustmaster (wie leider viele Peripherie-Hersteller) keinen Support für Win 7 liefert. Daher ist ein Hotas Cougar, der ja ohnehin nur noch gebraucht erhältlich ist, nichts für newbies. Erfahrenen Simulator-User gelingt es selbstverständlich die Treiber unter Windows 7 zu installieren - und Foxy funktioniert natürlich auch unter Win 7.Wegen des fehlenden Supports nur 2 Punkte