Hi,
I have a Cougar and a Warthog. Both have problems.
My Cougar was that bad that i thougt about rebilding the internals.... other Story.
My Warthorg was fine from the outside, but after connecting it I faced the Problem of failing right Throttle. Ok here we go (again) lets have a look inside (I'm IT-Electrician).
After figuring out how to open it I found the same sh** I had with my Cougar.
Cold solder points massive amounts of hotglue well just bad manufactured electronics. I considered resoldering or replacement and went for the second. When I Pay 340,00 Euro (441,92 Dollar) for a "masterpice" of Hardware I think it should be working as intendet.
But after all I wouldn't want another. So far a friend has a Saitek and an other has an Logitech and both have much more Problems. Software issues, even worse electronics. Thats why I have purchased the Wartohg.
About the electronics, well I hope that TM isn't dooing it to maximise profit, but from my opinion the should change the assambling facility or at least kick the asses of the QC Section and use better connectors for the inside of the stick. I think in this range of price it would make sense investing some more here and and put the 10€ Price raise ontop....
As I mentioned same was with my Cougar, but this stick had serious construction issues. Several Mods are out for it. Most of em cost the same as the whole Stick but they are worth it.
I hope I could help and don't beat the cra* out of me for my bad english. I'm not a native :)