Ratings: Ease of Use, Performance: 23/25, Look & Feel: 24/25, Features & Software 23/25, How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 93/100
The Hotas Cougar by veteran game controllers Thrustmaster is a fantastic flight control system for any flight sim enthusiast. The Hotas Cougar is a replica of the actual F-16 fighter stick and throttle with plenty going for it. The setup and ease of use is probably the best aspects but the manufacturing and durability are nothing to look down on either.
Here is the features straight from Thrustmaster:
Replica of the US Air Force F-16 block 52 controller (Stick and throttle)
The most realistic flight stick on the market
A high-end product of superior quality and performance
Full metal controller, co-engineered in collaboration with US Air Force
Used by US Air Force for pilot training – a reference in the aircraft sector
Endorsed by the Virtual Thunderbirds in the U.S.
Endorsed by the Russian Knights in Russia
Already large community of flight simulation fans (awarded worldwide)
Simple connection using full speed USB
Response time 8 x faster than traditional USB plugs
The flight stick and the throttle are both made of durable steel, not plastic. This in my mind stood out as made to last from the moment I picked up the box. I unpacked the Cougar and thought they added a brick to the box. The base and the handles of both the stick and throttle are steel and weigh quite a bit. The total weight of the boxed set is 22 pounds and not much of that is packing material.
I unpacked the box and found the throttle and stick, an installation CD and two books. The quick install guide is four pages of quick and easy setup in four separate languages for a small booklet of sixteen pages. The other manual is a comprehensive 183 page manual that goes from plugging the Cougar into your computer, checking and assigning axis and buttons to logical programming of your setup.
The joystick is made of a removable handle and the base that pivots on two gimbaled assemblies that transform the two axis movements to the potentiometers for your signals to the computer. The joystick has the usual trigger and other buttons as well as smaller hat switches with four or eight positions for view assignments or control surface presets. For ease of transporting the set the handle of the joystick unscrews from the base easily with a connector inside for electrical connection of the switches to the base.
The throttle is a simple forward and back pivot on a good steel frame with smooth control and detents inside for your afterburner and idle positions. I found the clicks loud for the detents so I simply removed the plate that has the two detents on it that creates the clicking, the other side of this is the rings with a bump on the throttle shaft. It was simply a matter of removing the bottom cover, then removing two screws that hold the plate and springs against the shaft rings with its detents. This meant no set clicks for idle or afterburner but I really don’t need them or want them.
Both the throttle and joystick are made from steel parts with some plastic and other things thrown in the mix. I understand a lot about electronics and the parts that make up the Cougar are sturdy and will last a long time, but they will wear out with use. The potentiometers that create the varying signals for the axis are probably the parts that will wear out the quickest but they will still last a long time. They are also easy to replace with a replacement available from Thrustmaster or you can upgrade to a device called a Hall Sensor that will last much longer. But that is a mod and I will not be going much into those although there is a huge fan base for the Cougar that deals extensively with just those types of things.
The Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar is probably the easiest and yet somewhat complicated peripheral I have received for my computer. You can just run the setup CD, plug the Cougar into your USB when the program tells you and your ready to roll. The setup program comes with a few different drivers and programs that help you use your Cougar but it can be as simple as going through a few simple steps and you can fly with the best of them. But you should really use the programs you can download to ensure you are using the most up to date ones for your Cougar.
One thing that you need to understand and that the company is quick to add, the fans know what they want and have helped them quite a bit with creating a better product. Thrustmaster has created a great product but the fans have created several new programs and helped Thrustmaster make a great product even better. The Foxy program to assign buttons and create profiles is a great addition to the Cougar and an easy way to assign buttons and such without changing the default settings in a game. It is much easier to use the default keys and assign them to each button while not in a game than to shut the game down, assign a button and return to the game to see if they work.
Following the manual and quick start guide works pretty good but I really do recommend you follow the guide that is on Cougar World for complete easy to follow instructions for your Cougar setup, firmware update and programming. These are the guys who use their Cougars regularly and know what they are talking about. So you can ignore the CD that comes with the Hotas Cougar and follow the directions at Cougar World, I will have a link to it at the end of this article.
Assigning buttons can be a little harder but it does not have to be all that difficult. You can open the newer Foxy Hotas Cougar Profile program to load one of the many profiles for many different games and have preset configurations already for your use. The Foxy program even comes with pictures showing button and axis assignments for you to print out for reference while playing. The manual does have the programming that the Foxy program uses so it is a great reference and guide for programming your Cougar.
To change assignments in a game you change them in your Foxy program and then download the program to the controller. You do not change the assignments for buttons in the game, they are made in the Foxy program and you assign the buttons according to the games default settings. So using the default control assignments that are given in a game manual, readme file or downloaded from the game site will give you half of what you need to change buttons. You can use the Foxy programs handy Wizards to create your own assignments for games or use the already created profiles that you download.
Using one of these profiles and changing a few or several buttons or controls is very simple. You open the Foxy program and load the profile you wish to work with. There are two parts to any profile, a joystick and a macro file. The macro file is a reference and assignment for the program to assign each button from your game to what that button does. This is your games settings and more of a reference for you as well as a reference for the joystick file. The joystick file is where you change the buttons and controller assignments.
Using the two on and off assignments of the pinkie button on the joystick gives you two sets of controls for each button. So when you just push any button on your controller you have one set of assignments, when you hold the pinkie button down there is the second set. In the joystick file this shows up as /1 or /0 for on and off of the pinkie button. Once you understand this you are ready to go. On the left side of the screen the program brings up assignments for things in common simulators that you can assign.
Using these helpful fill ins you can go to the button you want to reassign, erase what is already there and assign something from the drop down list. To load the files into your controller you just press the download menu button and the program will load the files to the controller and even have a quick test to check your changes. To create your own profile you simply start with each button or axis and assign them to the various buttons using the Wizard or from scratch. The program comes with tools to help with this and even remark statements to help you understand your own work.
The Foxy program comes complete with ready to use profiles, images of your stick and the buttons you assign to it for helpful reference cards while playing any game and pictorial references for control assignments for quick and easy assigning. The Foxy program along with the Hotas Cougar Control Panel and other programs may seem like a lot to work with and there is some work to setting all this up. If you just follow the helpful guides on the Cougar World web site you can be up and running in no time at all with the controls set to what you want for your Hotas Cougar.
But if you want to really get flying quickly you can just run the setup of the Hotas Cougar and use the standard Windows controls from your game to set them to your Cougar. This means no fancy button assignments but you can quickly get flying and use the simple features and buttons and assign them in your game. The Cougar can be assigned using your game or flight sim or the Foxy program for either easy to use and quick setup or more advanced and assignable buttons and controls for more versatile use of your Hotas.
So which ever way you want to go, easy and quick or more versatility and buttons to assign you can use the programs however you want. Thrustmaster and others have helped to create a huge fan based support group for just about any problem with your Cougar. You can go to the Cougar World web site and find all kinds of installation tips and guides, help and tutorials, modifications and answers to any questions you have about your Cougar flight controller.
I tested the Cougar out on my favorite games such as Flight Sim X, Lock-On Modern Air Combat, Combat Flight Sim 2, MechWarrior 4 and Il-2 Sturmovik. The control and feel of the joystick in flight is very nice and the entire experience was great. The throttle moves smoothly and without the clicks due to the detents that I removed is nice.
In flight the throttle handles extremely well but you do have to get used to the stiffer joystick due the more heavy duty parts inside as well as the heavy rubber boot around the base of the joystick. For easier joystick movement you can remove the rubber boot and replace it with something else but I simply removed mine for easier movement. The Hotas Cougar adds a precision and finesse to your flying that will reward you with Ace like moves.
Games such as Flight Sim X are really nice to play with the Cougar and you really benefit with the ease of controller assignments and programming of the Cougar. I recently reviewed an add-on to Flight Sim X called Wings Of Power II: B17 and used the Cougar with its assignments and controls to fly the heavy bomber with ease. It really makes flying easier for every game I played and the Foxy program makes assigning buttons quick and simple.
There are not only the programs like Foxy that fans have created and Thrustmaster has officially made a part of their product but there are mods to fix and upgrade your controller with additional improvements. Mods include replacing internal parts for better ones, replacing worn parts and repairing problems that occur from major use and wear. The fans who have come up with these mods use their Cougar to excessive wear so they know what they are talking about.
I have recently reviewed both the Thrustmaster entry and Saitek’s flight controllers in the race for affordable flight control systems and the Hotas Cougar comes out the leader. The Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar is designed from the real F-16 fighter flight stick and throttle and uses simple easy to understand programming that works a bit better than Saitek’s X52 ones.
I highly recommend the Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar for a realistic flight control system for any simulation game. The installation is easy and you can quickly learn how to change single button assignments or create whole new profiles using the simple to use programs. The Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar is a fantastic flight control system and a definite must for flight sim enthusiasts.
