OF
Well-Known Member
So today I got my self funded Christmas/New Years gift, a brand new Aura from your friend and mine, Randy. I couldn't pass up his great introductory discount.......once again. He knows how to get my money for sure.
After a full charging (confirming the battery is indeed 2600 mAh (in fact 2666 in this case)) I'm doing the traditional burn offs and poking around with it some. A couple of points of interest to some folks:
While the oven is similar to other models, I don't think it's the same. If you look carefully you can see the heater element in the walls, a serpentine deposited film (I think) just below the surface. Imbedded in the ceramic which may explain the faster heat up time (heat doesn't have to come through the entire wall thickness). It comes without a bottom screen (as newer versions seem to be?) but this one also comes with 2 of the larger 8 sided screens forced into the earlier units. If you wanted to you could no doubt press one in with a 3/8 dowel or even a new wood pencil. I opted for a cut down SS mesh screen to avoid problems removing it later.
It comes with two 'pods', one for herb, the other concentrates. Same units that fit their other vapes.
Those who have problems with the airpath 'flowing over the electronics' will not like this one I fear, despite the advertising "Fully Isolated Air Path" (their spelling, I guess they like capitals....) it is clearly not the case. You can hear 'wind' whistling through the charge port on the bottom with a heavy hit, blocking it with your finger definitely has an effect. If you gently blow in the MP, the inside of the window fogs up.....pretty conclusive to me the isolation isn't real.
You can do an interesting experiment with it that shows how the display 'lies' a bit to you. As it's heating up sucking (or blowing) on the MP drops the indicated heat maybe 15 or 20 degrees F even though the heater is on 'full blast' at the time. It 'goes backwards' for several seconds, cooling off, only to recover when the air stops. Once it 'makes temperature', and the very Ascent like 'steaming bowl' icon is lit, the display no longer shows the drop even though it's surely still happening. The display stays 'stuck' on the target temperature. Programmers call this 'masking' (hiding details). Otherwise I guess folks would complain?
The MP is entirely new. No threads any more (except the cap holding the screen), the MP is held in place by o-rings and can be rotated at will. Ed's gonna have some fun making a wood stem for this one I bet. I'm not sure how you'd link it to a WT, the standard FM adapter isn't going to work without threads. And the 'whistle tip' MP is real wide and narrow, rubber tube isn't going to be much help I think.
It's slightly larger in diameter, but much lighter than the similar FM V3.0 (3.6 ounces against 4.9). Even though the battery in the Aura is twice as large (1330 mAh against 2666 in my testing). The plastic body is also much better with 'heat management' than the V3. The body below the oven stays quite cool (and with it the electronics and battery inside.....which is better for both) rather than getting 'too hot to hold' like the V3 does with extended use. Another big plus IMO.
Once the burn offs are done, I'll get to some real testing......got the herb all lined up. I don't, however, expect much difference there given the similarity to other FM products 'where it counts'.
Thanks for your kind attention.
OF
After a full charging (confirming the battery is indeed 2600 mAh (in fact 2666 in this case)) I'm doing the traditional burn offs and poking around with it some. A couple of points of interest to some folks:
While the oven is similar to other models, I don't think it's the same. If you look carefully you can see the heater element in the walls, a serpentine deposited film (I think) just below the surface. Imbedded in the ceramic which may explain the faster heat up time (heat doesn't have to come through the entire wall thickness). It comes without a bottom screen (as newer versions seem to be?) but this one also comes with 2 of the larger 8 sided screens forced into the earlier units. If you wanted to you could no doubt press one in with a 3/8 dowel or even a new wood pencil. I opted for a cut down SS mesh screen to avoid problems removing it later.
It comes with two 'pods', one for herb, the other concentrates. Same units that fit their other vapes.
Those who have problems with the airpath 'flowing over the electronics' will not like this one I fear, despite the advertising "Fully Isolated Air Path" (their spelling, I guess they like capitals....) it is clearly not the case. You can hear 'wind' whistling through the charge port on the bottom with a heavy hit, blocking it with your finger definitely has an effect. If you gently blow in the MP, the inside of the window fogs up.....pretty conclusive to me the isolation isn't real.
You can do an interesting experiment with it that shows how the display 'lies' a bit to you. As it's heating up sucking (or blowing) on the MP drops the indicated heat maybe 15 or 20 degrees F even though the heater is on 'full blast' at the time. It 'goes backwards' for several seconds, cooling off, only to recover when the air stops. Once it 'makes temperature', and the very Ascent like 'steaming bowl' icon is lit, the display no longer shows the drop even though it's surely still happening. The display stays 'stuck' on the target temperature. Programmers call this 'masking' (hiding details). Otherwise I guess folks would complain?
The MP is entirely new. No threads any more (except the cap holding the screen), the MP is held in place by o-rings and can be rotated at will. Ed's gonna have some fun making a wood stem for this one I bet. I'm not sure how you'd link it to a WT, the standard FM adapter isn't going to work without threads. And the 'whistle tip' MP is real wide and narrow, rubber tube isn't going to be much help I think.
It's slightly larger in diameter, but much lighter than the similar FM V3.0 (3.6 ounces against 4.9). Even though the battery in the Aura is twice as large (1330 mAh against 2666 in my testing). The plastic body is also much better with 'heat management' than the V3. The body below the oven stays quite cool (and with it the electronics and battery inside.....which is better for both) rather than getting 'too hot to hold' like the V3 does with extended use. Another big plus IMO.
Once the burn offs are done, I'll get to some real testing......got the herb all lined up. I don't, however, expect much difference there given the similarity to other FM products 'where it counts'.
Thanks for your kind attention.
OF
You should really post your reviews in the dedicated threads! I tried to summon you in the FM Air one after you did your review here, but for now we have no Aura thread (we do have one for the Aura hybrid though, but it's completely different)
