First Impressions of the Fire Magic Aurora A660I
The lead photograph answers a question before the specifications do. A window sits in the hood. A fourth knob carries the word Backburner.
Both details matter, because Fire Magic builds this model several ways. The listing on record is A660i-8EAP-W. That reads as propane, windowed, and fitted with the backburner and rotisserie kit. Order A660i-7EAN from a dealer and you get natural gas, no window, no spit.
Up close the hood does the talking. Two skins of 304 stainless, and it halts at 90 degrees rather than swinging past. The glass is wide enough to read a grate through without lifting anything.
Nobody unpacks this and cooks on it. A qualified professional service technician is required, and the warranty repeats the condition. A shut-off valve has to sit within six feet, and somebody has to supply it.
Then the first cook, which on a backburner build means the spit. Eighteen thousand BTU of infrared works from behind the food. Fat leaves the meat, lands on the Flavor Grids and comes back as smoke.
Key Features of the Fire Magic Aurora A660I
Read the feature list beside a Choice grill and the pattern is quick to spot. Fire Magic added heat, added depth, and added three things that run on electricity. The stainless underneath is the same grade either way.
- Stainless steel: Cast 304 stainless burners a quarter of an inch thick, under a double-walled 304 hood.
- Diamond Sear cooking grids: Bars with a flat smooth top rather than a rounded edge, patented under D857,453 and D862,984.
- Electric Igniter: Hot surface ignition. Hold a knob down for five seconds, watch the element glow, then turn.
- Illuminated cooking surface: Two 12V halogen lamps inside the hood. A push-button on the panel switches them.
- Rotisserie: Builds coded -8 carry the 18,000 BTU infrared backburner. A660i-7EAN and A660i-7EAP do not.
- Magic View Window: Offered on the A660 and A790 only. Kit 24187-54 is not listed for the smaller Auroras at all.
- Analog thermometer: No wiring reaches this one. A mechanical needle in the hood face reads whether the island has power or not.
- Made in USA: Robert H. Peterson Co. puts its East Proctor Avenue address on the cover of the manual.
One caution about the codes. The letter before the fuel matters as much as the number.
A660i-8EAP-W has no infrared searing burner. Dealers list an A660i-8LAN-W that has one. That build is quoted at 93,000 BTU in total.
Three burners give 75,000 BTU, which is 25,000 apiece. Respectable, certainly. The number that actually decides this purchase is a smaller one.
The interesting number is 22 inches. That is how deep the grate runs, front to back. Diamond Sear covers 660 square inches of it.
Every grill in the Choice range stops at a 19 1/2 inch cutout, whatever its width. The Aurora asks for 23 1/2 and gives the depth back to the cook.
Depth is what lets a spatchcocked bird sit across two burners with room behind it. It is also what makes the backburner useful rather than decorative.
What did not change is the jet. Fire Magic drills the A660i’s main orifices at #42 for natural gas and #54 for propane. Those are the sizes the little A430i gets. The A540i between them takes #44 and #55 instead.
So the extra heat here is not a hotter flame per port. It is a bigger casting, three of them, fed through the smallest Aurora’s jet.
Two published limits deserve respect. Fire Magic asks that no more than 75% of the grate carry griddles or pans. In wind, the hood should not stay shut on high beyond fifteen minutes.
Build, handling and durability
The burner is where the tier change becomes a part number. The A430i and A540i share main burner 3042-50. This grill takes 3041-50, as does the flagship A790i.
The pattern repeats around the box. Insulating liner 3176-52 serves the Echelon E660i too. Both grills take an identical cutout. Under the countertop, an Aurora at this size is Echelon architecture.
Hinges are the usual weak point on a grill, and this one has a single set. They are sprung, and they stop the hood square. Everything else on the head is bolted or welded. Very little of it can rattle.
Handling, once installed, comes down to two pieces. The 240 square inch warming rack hangs on two sets of hooks. Lower ones are for cooking, upper ones for keeping it clear. A grid lifter comes in the carton, which matters on grids this size.
Grids are their own three-piece set here, part 3544-DS-3. The A540i and A430i each take a different set. Spares do not travel between Aurora widths.
Running costs, upkeep and value
Price is where this product record earns its keep. We captured the listing on record at around $4,790.60 on 26 July 2026.
On 17 September 2026, two dealers listed the identical A660i-8EAP-W. One asked $6,945.30 to $7,162.20. The other asked $8,265.00.
Nothing arbitrates between them, because Fire Magic publishes no price of its own. In practice the spread means one thing. Compare SKU strings, not product names. Two listings for “Aurora A660i” can be thousands apart and different grills.
Then come the costs that are not the grill. Build the surround from anything combustible and liner 3176-52 stops being optional. Enclosed overhead, this 30-inch grill takes a 42-VH-7 vent hood.
The wider Choice CM650i takes exactly the same size. The box behind the grate is simply larger. Add the gas fitter and the weather-proof outlet.
Upkeep is undemanding but not quite as simple as a Choice grill. Run it hot with the hood shut until the grease goes. The manual puts that at ten to fifteen minutes. Liners drop into the drip tray, and the Flavor Grids intercept fat on the way down.
Against that, two halogen bulbs are consumable. The window wants glass cleaner, never a wire brush.
Possible Fire Magic Aurora A660I Complaints
- The half you pay extra for is the half with a one-year clock: The casting, the grids and the stainless around them are warranted indefinitely. Ignition systems, lights and the thermometer are not. The parts a Choice grill already had are the parts covered forever. Fire Magic’s answer is low-tech: a long-stem match at the lighting tube starts any burner.
- The depth is a masonry decision, and it has a second cost: Four inches more front to back than a Choice grill is not something you retrofit. It also moves the grill up a vent hood size. An enclosed Aurora at this width needs what a wider Choice needs. Plan the ventilation at the same time as the cutout, or plan it twice.
