My HOTAS Cougar is still functional but the throttle has a couple of issues.
I no longer have friction on the throttle movement which means that i have to keep my hand on the throttle at all times otherwise it will either move full forward or backward upon release and the speedbrake switch is problematic as to it no longer slides and it causes spiking with the IFF switch.
The Cougar stick has been upgraded a few years ago to RealSimulator FSSB when one of the axis broke. I am really happy with it as it still goes on strong.
Seeing this topic and the one for the RealSimulator F-16 Throttle, i would be more interested in a Thrustmaster Cougar Throttle V2 rather than a RealSimulator one, mainly due to cost. The Cougar stick upgrade to FSSB was worth it but it was a bit pricey. In addition it has been a couple of years since i started searching for an F-16 throttle replacement and i even contacted a couple of companies that i found on the web but those are mainly military grade and way too expensive for personal use, which was disappointing:(
However at one time i did sent an e-mail to Thrustmaster customer service requesting that they think about releasing a new F-16 throttle as a replacement to the Cougar and if memory serves me correctly the customer service guy replied that he would forward the request to the management team.
So now i just hope that since they released an F/A-18 grip for the DCS Hornet, they go ahead in the next few months and release an F-16 throttle.
Just hopping and Christmas is just around the corner. :santa::santa::santa::santa: