I feel the Cougar throttle pain too. My solution was to replace it with a Virpil, and I can't say enough about the new throttle. My complaint about the Cougar throttle was always the stiction, and nothing I did ever seemed to take care of it - mods, grease, nothing. Over the years, I wound up damaging the pushbutton rotary - the knob was so firmly attached that it pulled the post out of the pot it was attached to. It still worked - rotary turned, push button...er...pushed, but it would fall out just enough to be annoying. So eventually I replaced the whole thing.
That was the second piece of new
HOTAS I've picked up over the last year - I replaced my rudder pedals last year - 20 year old CH pedals with spiky pots - with an MFG Crosswind set. I never realized how nice toe brakes were, and it is so much more comfortable to use re: pedal postion that the CH ones.
I'd been debating whether or not to replace the stick. I do like my Cougar stick - it has the NXT gimbal mod and hall sensors (I put Halls in the throttle too) but I finally pulled the trigger a few weeks ago on a new VKB Gunfighter with the MCG Pro grip. Much different feel, but I am getting used to it. The Cougar was a little sloppier (springs probably need to be replaced, they are original!) but the VKB centers quite nicely. I really like the additional buttons as well as the push down on button on all the hats. It does seem a bit more....precise?...than the Cougar, esp in DCS.
I like your solution to the throttle in Elite, DB, it's a logical choice, but for me there's something in the tactile feel of grabbing that handful of throttle and slamming it to the wall!