[CAF_Corbo]

Hi,

My saitek aviator just died last week, and I'm looking to upgrade the quality of my joystick. After a few hours of shopping online, I found out that the combo Fighterstick + Pro throttle from CH Products is the EXACT same price as the Cougar HOTAS. I saw many reviews from users that says it's a really good joystick out of the box (cougar), but I saw many posts from other ppl, which I don't know if they own one, that says you need a lot of modding to make it work like it should. So I'm requesting your help so I can finalize my choice.

I would like to have the opinions of the people who owns or used those joysticks, and it would be great to know what you're using right now. Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Rapha

[Freiwillige]

I have owned many CH products in the past and while there quality is great, I dont like how loose the tension is in the stick. Its so easy to push around it just feels light. That is my only complaint. Their rudder peddals are top notch though. So if you can live with a stick that has little pressure to push than its definately a great stick.

Ive owned the Flightstick pro, The F-16 Fighter stick, F-16 fighter stick USB, CH pro peddals.

[Sikshoota]

Hello savard

Check out the poll & followup comments HERE (The link is inoperative)


Cheers

Sik

[VMF-214_HaVoK]

CH Products all the way for me. Excellent quality, excellent functionality, and works perfectly out of the box without the need for expensive mods. They last forever and well worth the price tag if your a serious simmer.

I own the Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals. I have own all the 40$ sticks before as well as an X-52. They can not even come close to CH.

S!

[CAF_Corbo]

Thx for the replies so far,

I trust CH all the way since I'm using the rudder pedals and they're still like new. I know they will last forever. But when it comes to the joystick, Im really puzzled. I know that the CH should be good as well, but I got the opportunity for a cougar too, and it looks like the rolls royce of the joysticks. All metal construction, ergonomic handles (model develloped by the militaries over a few decades), but the only thing I'm not sure is the reliability. In fact, the cougar would cost me 1.62$ less than the CH, taxes and shipping included. Also the CH are out of stock right now, while the cougar is still available.

I'm relatively new to the flight sim scene (7 months @ IL-2), but I'll stick for quite a while. Since my beginnings, I improved dramaticly, and I'm currently doing my private pilot license at CYHU, so the joystick is also a training tool. I don't have the money for many devices (yokes, joysticks, ect). I gotta think about the real thing too. Hours of flight are pretty expensive but it's soo worth it. Investing for a good hotas isnt a waste of money for me, not at all. The stiffness of the cougar could be good to replicate the sensations of the real thing, but I don't know if it's suited for dogfights in IL-2 as well. The reliability of CH is well known and Cougar is easily fixable, but of course if I gotta spend money on this joystick all the time it isn't a good bargain. And Saitek is completly out of the picture for me. It doesnt last. You can continue to post about the CH products, I would really like to know what are the weaknesses of it. So far the stick is pretty loose, but I guess there's more than that even if its an awesome joystick of course. And I hope there's some cougar users in those forums too so I can get a more accurate picture.

Choosing a set of rudder pedals or controls for the mixture/propeller/trim is so much easier than choosing a good hotas.. it's killing me lol. And thanks for the help I'll let you kill me sometime as a reward lol. :wink:

[Guest]

I've stuck to Saitek. The Pro Flight Pedals are great and a fair bit more adjustable than the CH Pedals. I've found the CH ones very difficult to setup and very edgy (only in MS-FS). Joystick-wise, usually the more expensive you the better you get. From value for money point of view, can't go past the Saitek Cyborg Evo. Fully adjustable, easy to use and decent price.

[Guest]

CH is plug and play straight from the box no problems and superb quality, the software is also excellent and once you get used to it, easy to use and programme. The Fighterstick is excellent, not too stiff and not too sloppy, it allows SMOOTH, spike free, accurate control and you will not feel that you have arm wrestled a gorilla after an hours use.

My stick and throttle are as good as the day I got them over 4 years ago I am 100% happy with the reliability, quality and build of the CH products.

On the other hand for everyone that says they are happy with the Cougar, you will find more that complain about the shoddy metal, the reliability, the wearability, and the usability of that product.
The only people that seem happy are those that have spent a fortune basically throwing half of it in a skip, and paying a fortune to have properly made sensors/gimbals installed.

Obviously if you have more money than sense the modded Cougar is the way to go....... :lol:

[DoktorWho]

On the subject of joysticks does anybody PLEASE have the driver/can copy the driver to CD (EVery expense covered: CD/your time/postage) for Microsoft Force Feedback 2? I'm on my knees pleading here DW

[CAF_Corbo]

Thanks for the inputs everybody, it helped a lot. After reading 1,000,000,000 reviews and all those posts, I chose what I'll buy. I'll go for the CH setup! I just dont have 600$ CAN to put on a joystick. Thanks a lot once again.

[Decon]

DoktorWho,

Check this out....



http://members.driverguide.com/driver/d ... rid=117787

Merry Christmas,
D

[Kamikuza]

MS FFB2 & Cougar throttle & gameport (into the cougar) CH pedals ... I like my FFB more than I like 20,000 programmible buttons
Cougar is awesome but the quality is dissapointing ... I'd love to put the electronic hardware in a custom rig though with FFB

CH is a good choice, I think ... if you don't want FFB

Doktorwho - try the driver pile there or I can upload for you to download if you like