Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
superficial quality, September 14, 2003
I have been using the Cougar for over a year now and have concluded that it is a combination of the best and the worst in consumer products. In the end analysis it is ok for someone who doesn't mind tinkering, modifying and repairing. If it wasn't for the online community I would have thrown my Cougar away a long time ago. These guys are the BEST thing going for the Cougar. Support from the manufacturer is far from acceptable. Now for the good and the bad.This product has a great feel about it. Largely because it's all metal, heavy and seems durable. The metal, however, is very soft and, consequently, easy to strip threads. The switches and pots are low quality. Replacement pots are only available through the manufacturer as they were specially made. (I think by CTS) The Throttle Quadrant has a speed brake switch which is on in the forward position, off in the middle position and momentary on in the back position. The switch itself is the toggle variety. It is guided by a plastic guide that works well when properly aligned but there is nothing designed into the product to insure alignment. You'll have to fix this yourself or the guide is likely to break. Fortunately the procedure is detailed in Frugals World Cougar forum. Programmability is a big plus with the Cougar. Again, if you are not up to tinkering and just want to plug and play, look for something else. If you don't mind spending some time with your face in the manual and working through a profile or two you will have incredible flexibility. The throttle itself is rather sticky through its range of motion and there are two detents for idle and afterburner. All in all it is clunky and I opted to remove the detents. As far as the sticky motion is concerned I have yet to find a way to fix it. The Cougar is not really a desktop item. Sure it's heavy and you would think it would stay put but it doesn't. It is a lot more enjoyable when anchored to a platform. If you are contemplating this purchase I suggest that you go to and get familiar with http://cougar.frugalsworld.com/. They will be your primary support group and you can get some insight to the problems and soulutions that the rest of us are working through.
Pay special attention to the instructions when loading the software. There seems to be a problem with version 2.04 that damages the throttle pot.
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108 of 120 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
All show, no go, December 14, 2003
Pros:
1. metal and sturdy (except throttle lever support which is plastic and actually broke on mine). Metal makes for great feel of the stick, much better than any plastic joystick.2. Vast programming abilities (rivaled only by top competition equipment). This is, IMO, the best thing about the Cougar. 3. Impressive looks and design - a real stunner. Better than any other joystick in this regard. Cons:
1. Poor gimbal construction. The stick will inevitably develop center play which, in combination with stiff springs, makes the center position feel like a detent - this effectively denies any precision control near the center. A fix for this is available as a 3rd party product, but is costly - almost twice as the Cougar itself. 2. Poor quality potentiometers. With joystick this expensive, HAL (contactless magnetic potentiometers) are the way to go, or at least high quality potentiometers found in competition products. HAL potentimeters for Cougar are also available as a 3rd party product, but are costly (a kit of three is slightly less than 200$). 3. Sticky feel with throttle. The material has quite a difference in friction, which means it is hard to move the throttle, but once you do move it, it is hard to stop it in desired position. No precision here. If the resistance is lowered, the throttle lever falls forward/backward due to its own weight ! Verdict: A wannabe quality product which simply falls short in crucial areas. Requires significant additional costs to make it work as advertised. Definitely not recommended, as there are much better options out there.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
TM Cougars: For Hard-Core FltSimmers and tech gurus, July 30, 2004
Personal Testimony:
Well, Ive been into flightsimming since 1985. Ive owned every one of Thrustmaster's flight controllers since the: FCS/WCS, FLCS/TQS, FLCS-Pro/TQS, FLCS-Pro/TQS w/Dig Upgrade Chips, and now the Cougar FLCS and TQS controller set. All of these still exist are in working order in my "collection bin", except that Im using the Cougars presently.
I have not needed to fix the Cougars and Ive had them for about 2+ years now. With proper care (dust covers and keeping the dust off them), not beating on the stick & throttlem or hamfisting the little switches when using, proper electrical care when plugging them (they do contain electro-static sensitive EEPROM chip); they will last a long long time. These are not plastic like all the previous TM controllers, but rather are metal. Being in a Falcon4 flight sim squadron, I put in about 5-10 hours a week using the Cougars. So my Cougars have been used for at least 1000 hours and dont have a scratch or exhibit any spiking or other symptoms.
Reliability:
While it is true that many have bad pots and switches either from the day they were recieved or after 100s and 1000s of hours of use, the vast majority do not experience this kind of mechanical failure. TM will send you the parts for free if you write/email/call them. Yes, it did take about 4 months for me to get backup parts (I didnt need them yet). And yes, there are HALL Effect (electro-magnetic parts) to replace the moving pots (potentiometers) which make the controllers even more long lasting. This would be for those with the money and is very worth the investment if youre logging 100s of hours in your favorite flight sim.
Complexity:
Cougars are not for the techically challenged or timid flight simmer. You will have to know how to program in the TM button command file language (or just slightly modify the existing ones to meet your needs), know how to hook up your flight controllers to work with the Cougars, understand Windows controller utility, use the TM Command and Control setup software, use the FOXY stick file editor and Cougar maintenance software (which is super), understand flight controls as they relate to the aircraft you are simulating an how that maps to the stick buttons and axes, understand the complex flight sim (for hard core simmers that would be: Falcon4, LockOn, MS-FS, IL2 and others).
Support:
Thrustmaster controllers, and COUGARs in particular have a super user community of technologically adept users that are there to help world wide due to the web forums. (...).
With almost a 100 Falcon4 and LockOn online flight squadrons, which you can find with any inet search engine, there are lots of opportunities to get help and join a online flight squadron. The software and bios (flash micro code) is a free download, as are many user controller files. The negative side is that this is a French and Canadian business (Guillemot) that took over the American owned Thrustmaster company, so there are delays in getting parts and finding new units. One often has to find them on Amazon or Ebay (and I dont advise buying used ones as you may be buying a damaged set).
Value:
Or bang-for-the-buck? One movie date with condiments will cost you near $50 for about 2 hours of fun, or $25/hr. You will get 100s-1000s of hours with TM Cougars. Thats $300/100 or about $3/hour if you only fly 100 hours total (which is not very hard core flight simmer). Thats just the quantitative value. For the qualitative value you have the realism, full functionality and "feel". Realism wise, I own a real FLCS and TQS from a F16-A fighter jet. When you put the Cougars next to the real set, they are almost identical in form and function. In fact, the functionality of the Cougars are user definable due to their programmability - where as the real ones have set functions. Just put the Cougars in your hands, and you will feel the solid construction and will have as close as you can come to the real things in the palm of your hands.
Realism:
See for yourself, compare these real HOTAS from a F16-A with the picture of the COUGARs which emulate those found in a F16-C:
(...)
In closing, the TM Cougars have a steep learning curve and require care, patience, perserverance, technical skills and some serious bucks. They are clearly for the high end or "hard core" flight simmer. The CH Products Pedal Pro (gameport or USB) work well with the Cougars. If you want force feed back, I recommend that you instead get a MS Sidewinder Pro2 USB which is a stick, throttle and rudder with FFB all in one with limited user function programmability. Other sticks and throttles Ive tried like: Saitek and Ch Prod have their place, but must bow to the king of controllers: the TM Cougars.
Fair skies and check six,
AV8R
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