Petzl Tikka vs. Princeton Tec Aurora

[Slick]

Having long grown tired of tooth marked & spit soaked flashlights, I finally decided to get a headlamp. After reading as many reviews as I could find, I pretty much decided to go with the Petzl Tikka for it's light weight and long run time w/LED's.

When I get to the store, I also noticed a headlamp from Princeton Tec called the Aurora. It's very similar to the Tikka in that they both have 3 LED's, use 3 AAA batteries and are nearly the same size & weight. I'm guessing that run time should be similar as well.

Fortunately, the store had a display with both models out to play around with. Here's what I found..

The Aurora appears to be much more water resistant as there is a rubber gasket that seals the battery compartment and the switch (push button) has a rubber cover. By contrast, I noticed no such gasket on the Tikka and the switch is a sliding on / off type deal. The Aurora also has 3 brightnes modes (that work real well) and two flashing mode (that I don't know what I'd do with). The Tikka is either on or off, that's it..

The other notable difference in these lights it that the Aurora is hinged where it attaches to the headband allowing the light to be pointed up or down to adjust where you want the light to fall. The hinge has an embedded steel nut so it could easily be tightened if it ever loosened up.

In my non-scientific brightness test (which one seems more blinding to the naked eye) they both seemed pretty similar (but the Aurora seemed to have a slight edge) so I bought the Aurora for it's additional features. Not only that, the Aurora was also $5 cheaper to boot ($30 vs. $35 for the Tikka).

After getting the thing home and playing around with it, I have to say that I'm VERY pleased with the Aurora and feel that it is an out standing value. My only gripe if I had to come up with one is that the switch requires a good bit of pressure to operate, but on the other hand it should be well protected from accidentally being turned on inside my luggage.

So in summary, I'd most certainly reccomend the Aurora to anyone looking for a lightweight headlamp with super long run time. Has anyone else done a similar comparison? Anyone ever have problems crop up with the Aurora outside of some flickering I've read about (didn't notice any on mine yet)?
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I just moved this post over from the headlamp forum, as I have searched for, and found much more info over here on these lights...

 

[RonM]

Going camping for the first time in MANY years, so I almost picked up an Aurora at ****'s Sporting Goods the other day. Now I'm having non-buyers regret!

Well, there's still time.

 

[Lux Luthor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Slick:
...So in summary, I'd most certainly reccomend the Aurora to anyone looking for a lightweight headlamp with super long run time. Has anyone else done a similar comparison? Anyone ever have problems crop up with the Aurora outside of some flickering I've read about (didn't notice any on mine yet)?...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I recently compared the Aurora to the Moonlight here. I've since changed my opinion about the comfort remarks (I now find the Aurora more comfortable), but I otherwise stand by everything else.

The Aurora is a very nice light, but it could use a little more work. My complaints are:

1) Flickering.

2) Hinge becomes loose easily and needs a small Philips head screwdriver to tighten.

3) Batteries can fall out when you open the light.

4) The LEDs need some shielding at the bottom so they don't shine onto your glasses. It's also stupid to make the front plate out of transparent Lexan so that it glows, further adding to the problem. I find this complaint to be the worst of all 4.

I still think it's an excellent light, though. It rolls up nice and compact. It has a smooth adjustable beam, is very comfortable, and waterproof.

 

[Streak]

I have the Tikka but only because there was no Aurora at the time. Unfortunately I have not had a chance to see an Aurora and it does not seem to be on the PT site yet.

I am very familiar with the switch used in the Aurora and have used it to control Luxeon's as well as LED arrays. It can handle up to an Amp and about 8 volts. It is a dome type switch which is why you may be finding it hard to activate with the rubber cover ontop of it. There is an auto off and find in the dark feature on the switch but they have probably been disabled for this application.

Have fun and enjoy.

My Land Rover Horror Story

 

[FluffyGrunt]

Just a pointless something that no one has mentioned yet. If you hold the Aurora a few inches from a white or light colored wall it has a spiffy lookin beam pattern.

Also the hinge on mine was loose when I got it outta the box but after tightening it up a little I haven't noticed it loosening up again and I've been fidgeting with it quite a bit. Course it is the only headlamp I have so not much to compare it to...

 

[cave dave]

Here is something i noticed about the aurora last night.

If I give the light a tap with my hand the battery momentarily looses contact. This makes the chip inside think you hit the button so the light "TURNS ITSELF OFF"

This is not a good feature. Lets say you kock your head on a low lying tree branch. Not only are you bruised but now you are in the dark too.

If you press the button again it will turn on though, but I don't like my lights to go out unexpectedly.

 

[FluffyGrunt]

Hmm dropped my Aurora on the floor a few times, it turned off once from about a 2-3 foot drop but stayed on during the next 2 drops. Then I dropped it from about 4 feet and it stayed on. After that I tried hitting it a bit with my hand and it stayed on through all the banging. Just wondering how hard your hitting the light to get it to turn off consistently? Does it turn off everytime you hit it? I don't know if I can bring myself to hit mine much harder.

 

[ake]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Streak:
[QB]
I am very familiar with the switch used in the Aurora and have used it to control Luxeon's as well as LED arrays. It can handle up to an Amp and about 8 volts. It is a dome type switch which is why you may be finding it hard to activate with the rubber cover ontop of it. There is an auto off and find in the dark feature on the switch but they have probably been disabled for this application.

QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Could someone tell me where can I get this kind of switch (including a rubber cover)?
I wanna try it on my mod. It seems water proof.

Ake

 

[cave dave]

I think the battery contacts had gotten squished from changing batteries. I bent them out a bit and all is well. But I think real springs would have been better than the folded metal tabs.

 

[BuddTX]

I have the Aurora also, and like it very much.

If you haven't read on the other posts, there are two "blinks" every 2 or three seconds. It is not noticable unless you look for it.

Princton Tec says that this is an energy saving device built into the light.

 

[Wits' End]

My first headlight also but I like it. To see the flicker it is best to wave the light back and forth and see either tracks of light on High or a line of dots on low. I don't notice (or it doesn't annoy me) much of an anoying flicker, the every 2-3 second type, but it is there. My $.02

 

[Slick]

Hmmmm.. I'm thinking that I outta put a drop of locktite on that hinge nut/screw in advance. I'd sure hate to lose that proprietary nut.

I did notice that it flickers once during power up, but I didn't notice any other flickering. I'll try the moving my hand past the beam real fast to see if I get a strobe effect that I read about in another post.

Lux L - I did check out the Moonlight model too but I was drawn more to the Aurora and Tikka due to their super compact packages. I wanted something that I could stash in my cargo pants pocket with ease. The Moonlight looked to be a very nice unit as well, but did cost about $10 more if I recall correctly.

I noticed that the Aurora's clear housing did soak up some "glow" that was visible when I had the light positioned downwards for close up work. I guess that I didn't find this particularly bothersome since I don't wear glasses. I suppose you could mask over the lens and spray paint it black in case it got too annoying..

 

[Slick]

I checked my Aurora and it does indeed flicker, but only slightly. In fact I didn't even notice it at first.

To catagorize this, I'd say that this is not any problem at all for reading directions or maybe a map. On the other hand, reading a novel or time consuming material tends to make the flicker more of an annoyance.

When using the Aurora for tasks other than reading, the flicker isn't noticable at all to me.

I tried opening the battery compartment and it was VERY well tight and sealed. No chance at all on this one for batteries to fall out by accident. When it finally popped open there was an evident "vacuum release", that leaves me little doubt that this light is very waterproof

I'm just guessing, but maybe the flicker is also by design more to protect what appear to be overdriven LED's..? Battery savings may just be a side benefit and sounds like something better to tell the customer base.

 

[BuddTX]

I used my Aurora last night for about an hour and a half in a field far away from any other ambient light (hard to do in a suburb of Houston). As an aside, boy, was it relaxing. I found a small lake, and a bayou, and the mosquitoes were not bad at all, temp was in the low 80's. I felt like I was in New England!

My dog and I must have walked 3-4 miles in total darkness, other than my Aurora's lights and my Energizer ARC White CCFT light. The ARC White is mounted at my hip, and "tosses": light directly in front of my feet, and the aurora is my "high beam" tossing light 30-50 feet in whatever direction my head is turned.

I did have the Brinkmann Legend LX handy for when I needed to light the world up, but not on for regular walking.

Now let me say that I can be pretty "anal" when I know someting is not perfect, (I guess we all are, by defination, we are all Flashoholics, right!), but I could not AT ALL detect any flickering. I knew it was there, but I could not see or detect it.

I was looking for an excuse to buy another headlamp, but for the life of me, I could not see it. Again, I know it is there, I can see it with a piece of paper held directly in front of me, but could not detect it when walking.

Now I do wish the lights were slightly less blue, but that is with all LED lights in general, with the exception of my Inova X5.

So, if you are considering this light, be your own judge, but don't kick this light out of the running because of the flicker.

If I were going to use this light for daily reading, that might be a different story.

My two cents!

 

[BuddTX]

See this post about the flickering:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=002195

Here is a quote from:
waumpuscat
Flashaholic
Member # 1036

=======================
Hey guys,
I emailed PT with my comment on the flickering and got a very quick response:

Phil,

The flickering you notice is the Aurora's way of saving batteries. It is only noticeable while reading, and yes it can get pretty annoying. There is nothing you can do to fix it or anything, that is the way it was designed. If you have any other questions or comments, please get back to me.

Thanks,
Ryan Ditta
Customer Service Representative
Princeton Tec
1-609-298-9331 x128
1-609-298-9601 Fax
[mailto:[email protected]]
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So, un-noticable flickering in exchange for light weight, and longer battery time, I'm in!

 

[DonL]

Well, I've had a Tikka for a while, and tried to shop and get good info before I plunked down the yayo.

The Tikka worked a bit better for me ergonomically, as well as its simplicity, as I wanted a light that was simply on or off.

Also, being one of those types of folks who are bugged by computer monitor refresh rates, I found the Aurora a bit annoying. Also, because I wear glasses, the lack of a "cut-off" underneath the bulbs was bothersome, similar to Lux's feelings.

The fella I borrowed the Aurora from for some "play time" loves the light, but his needs and likes are different from mine.

In the end, with suggestions and comments in mind, the choice still comes down to what works best for you as an individual.