Just arrived. This is 4mm longer than the other current USB C A2 through A4 Aurora lights at 61mm and has a slightly larger battery at 350 Ma. Still shorter than any AAA light I know of but with the same claimed 650 Lumens Turbo mode as the other current RoryVon Aurora round body lights. IMO still a nice sized key-chain light and small enough to not be too intrusive.
To show how things have changed I also have the original Aurora A2 USB Micro stainless version from 2018 and it had a 130 mAh battery versus the 350 mAh battery in the Ti version here and it is 53.7mm long and smaller in diameter by about 1mm.
It comes with a clip-on magnet for the tail piece and a magnetized reversible clip as well as two split rings for key chain mounting.
Some people immediately discount these RovyVon Aurora flashlights because of the captive proprietary battery. Well… when an opportunity to get one on discount arose, I took a chance. And now I’ve got 3 of them. The original is a V1 Aurora A8, with the tiny 130mAh battery. It still works great, over 6 years later. It makes for a great extra light on my house keychain. I charge it up maybe once or twice a year. The larger 330mAh G4 and G2 A5 models I got later are used more often. They’re my “mini EDC” flashlights. The older G2 A5 does take a long time to charge at this point… up to about 8 hours from flat. The G4 A5 is much faster, like about 90 minutes.
As a pocketed flashlight that may frequently come into contact with hard metal objects, I’d expect the titanium A4 is going to get scratched up quite noticeably. The polycarbonate A8 and A5 are terrific in that they resist scratching very well.
Surface resistance to scratching is highly dependent on surface treatment. Citizen titanium watches use harder titanium alloys and have hardened surface treatments that makes them quite resistant to surface damage other than impacts hard enough to actually cause dents in the underlying material.
I would add that overall, depending on surface treatment, titanium is less subject to damage than aluminum which is the material of choice for most flashlights.
Yes, that’s true. It’s a trade-off for less capable heat dissipation. In any case, I imagine as a keychain flashlight, the titanium might actually develop a nice patina over time, versus scratched up anodized aluminum.
For those who want to do a mental check on the size of this latest Aurora model, it is basically the same size as a unprotected 16650 battery when the tailpiece magnet is installed on the light. My measurements give dimensions of 15.5mm x 63.8mm.
How many Aurora versions are there and which one is the one to buy? I have Nitecore TIKA Blue and it’s great, except the main emitter is OSRAM P8 which is ugly as sin - it turns out that it’s easy to get used to the quality of light the 519a is producing after a few days of using the FC11C :-).
Too many Aurora versions and I do not claim to be an expert. Lots of older versions out there too as one I bought recently was an older version I found when it arrived. Sellers do not necessarily provide adequate info on that point. Probably best to look at the RoryVon web site and see if you can make sense of their descriptions.
I’ve not seen any Gen 1 Aurora models out there lately. The earliest is Gen 2. The present is Gen 4.
The most obvious difference with Gen 2 is the button. It’s a small round switch with a translucent rubber cover over it. Not a bad switch actually. It’s so much better than the black capsule shaped switch of the past (and that one is still used in cheap Aurora knockoffs). They’re also Micro-USB.
Gen 4 has a steel recessed button with raised metal bezel around it. I believe some were included in Gen 3 models. It’s a very good switch, but I feel a little more partial to the G2 rubber switch, that is quicker to locate by feel. Gen 4 has USB-C.
