Not having an Aviator, I couldn't be sure of anything, so take my words with a grain of salt.
That said, it's my experience that most flashlights, regardless of manufacturer, don't show their "normal" beam pattern until anywhere from six inches to two feet away from the light. Not sure if that's very clear, but almost regardless of the flashlight (even high-end ones), artifacts that appear on surfaces within about two feet of the light are pretty normal.
With respect to the particular artifacts you're seeing (parenthesis-shaped), I'd guess that they're a result of the three LED holes in the A2's reflector. It's kind of hard to tell from your beamshot (partly because I'm not sure how far away the light is from the surface, and partly because I don't have my own A2 for comparison), but I'd guess that the artifacts are primarily due to the LED holes, and that they would become unnoticeable in real world use, at normal use distances.
As to throw, you're definitely expecting too much out of that light. It's not really a matter of high-end in this case, though. Rather, it's virtually impossible for a light with a one-inch diameter, relatively shallow reflector to out-throw a much wider and deeper reflector, such as that in the Mag 3D. Add to that the fact that SF uses a textured reflector, which takes away from the potential throw of the light (but greatly improves beam smoothness), and there's no way an A2 should be able to out-throw a Mag 3D. That said, I expect that the A2 has about the best throw you're going to find in a light its size, with a reflector of its dimensions, with its output.
In the end, it sounds like your light is probably fine, though this should be corroborated by others who actually own the A2. One thing I've learned in my time as a flashaholic is that you shouldn't expect complete perfection in every aspect of a light. I've found myself disappointed in the beam quality of a light that I expected would be "perfect", but that light still serves me quite well, and is perfect in a number of other ways.