Is a cougar hotas worth it STOCK?
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My advice would be to get it IF YOU CAN afford it. The stick is probably going to be sloppy as hell as the gimbals were/are crap. However the throttle is the cheapest F-16 throttle you can get at that price. To complete your HOTAS you can pick up a Warthog Stick (TM sell these separately, without the A-10 Throttle Quadrant - you’ll pay about the same again though). You can connect the throttle either through the (unused Cougar stick) or for a bit more outlay get a TUSBA.
See in the Cougar thread for a reasonable cheep and well documented way to improve the Cougar throttle to use a Halls Sensor and be a bit more precise.
Hope this helps you.
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My advice would be to get it IF YOU CAN afford it.
That’s the thing with Cougars… the real price of it is not what the seller is listing it for. In fact, you might not know the real price of the Cougar until you’ve had it for quite some time. It is definitely a “project HOTAS,” and I have two myself. It needs a good investment of time and money before it shines. My WH is very robust, just works out of the box, but I plan to make a realistic throttle setup for the Cougar throttle… idle detent, lift-for-afterburner, etc. I don’t have the time for this yet though so my Cougars are just gathering dust.
IMO, I think the WH stick is better. If the “ultimate” stick was a FSSB/FCC-modded stick, then there’s a mod for the WH stick as well.
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Unless you are willing to sink in even MORE money on the Cougar, it’s not worth it. There are very rare instances of fully-working stock Cougars, but what are your thoughts regarding gambling on this?
Better get a WH for now.
Except my Warthog has had several serious problems. (crimped wire out of the box, PCB died after one month, and tailpiece broke off) None of that for the Cougar. Its luck of the draw. No hardware is trouble free across the board. Just get the one you want and know there is a likelihood of tinkering in your future. OOTB Warthog gimbals are better than Cougar for sure, but the Warthog gimbals are not without their breaking troubles either.
If reliability is number one concern, I’d go with CH. Most reliable of all.
If realism for a viper is number one get a Cougar and be ready to tinker. Warthog is in the middle of the two. Less reliable than CH, but more realistic than CH.
The Ultimate for realism for the F-16 is Warthog FSSB stick and TUSBA Cougar Throttle.
Sorry, there is no perfect HOTAS.If you can still get a Warthog for half price at Micro Center I’d go for it.
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so even if I can get it for 150 it wouldn’t be worth it because of the necessary upgrades I would have to do? it seems like it’s just a paperweight when stock
I definetly don’t want to open it up and mod it at all
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so even if I can get it for 150 it wouldn’t be worth it because of the necessary upgrades I would have to do? it seems like it’s just a paperweight when stock
I definetly don’t want to open it up and mod it at all
If you don’t want to mod at all, you will have to settle for a lesser HOTAS no matter what you buy. There is no great HOTAS without mods. You will have to make compromises. For 150 bucks you should consider buying the Cougar for the throttle and buying the Warthog stick alone. That would be a better combo than stock Warthog or stock Cougar. You could sell the Cougar stick for parts. I sold my gimbals for 30 bucks.
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A Cougar with an FCC3 upgrade is worth every penny. But it ain’t cheap.
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how does an unmodded cougar compare to the x52? also do you need a mod to use the WH stick with the cougar throttle?
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A Cougar with an FCC3 upgrade is worth every penny. But it ain’t cheap.
So is a WH with FCC3
how does an unmodded cougar compare to the x52? also do you need a mod to use the WH stick with the cougar throttle?
Depends. If both are working properly, then the X52 doesn’t hold a candle to the Cougar. Then again, the reliability of an X52 isn’t really that good anyway.
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Just get the one you want and know there is a likelihood of tinkering in your future. OOTB Warthog gimbals are better than Cougar for sure, but the Warthog gimbals are not without their breaking troubles either.
Gimbals on a warthog? I had thought they used hall effect sensors and a spring mount instead of gimbals…
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Gimbals on a warthog? I had thought they used hall effect sensors and a spring mount instead of gimbals…
I think you’re referring to potentiometers….
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… also do you need a mod to use the WH stick with the cougar throttle?
Nope. I use a stock Cougar throttle connected through the Cougar stick base and a stock WH stick. Nothing to it and very immersive when flying.
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I am not. A potentiometer is a rheostat - an electrical device that alters its resistance according to mechanical movement. Gimbals are a mechanical device for allowing movement in a joint. I was under the impression the warthog had a ball joint system instead of gimbals.
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Yeah, but you mentioned hall effect sensors…
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I understand they have hall effect sensors and a magnet, in place of a pair of potentiometers. Was I in error?
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I am not. A potentiometer is a rheostat - an electrical device that alters its resistance according to mechanical movement. Gimbals are a mechanical device for allowing movement in a joint. I was under the impression the warthog had a ball joint system instead of gimbals.
These parts on the Warthog stick are prone to snap in two:
It may not be technically correct, but some people refer to this part as the gimbals
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If it allows rotation of each part along one axis (which it looks like it does) then it is technically a set of gimbals. That is, each part is free only to rotate about one axis, and the stick gets two degrees of freedom due to there being two gimbals? Properly speaking gimbals are actually rings which allow such rotation, but the parts on the cougar work in a similar if limited fashion.
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Search Results
gimbal
ˈdʒɪmb(ə)l/
noun
plural noun: gimbals
a device for keeping an instrument such as a compass or chronometer horizontal in a moving vessel or aircraft, typically consisting of rings pivoted at right angles.
OriginGimbals, universal joint, CV joint all have common functionality.
And yes they use Hall sensors.
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Ok, sooooo
The doohickeys break on both Warthog and the Cougar. I think that is what I was getting at. Thanks schnidrman
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Well on the cougar the part that the doohickey attaches to is usually the part that breaks first. Its soft metal, and the screw that holds it in place is often overtightened in an attempt to stop the grip from wobbling.