PRG’s Best Boy LED is an upgraded version of their Best Boy HP. The original Best Boy’s arc lamp and reflector have been replaced with a Cool White LED engine. The Best Boy’s already robust feature set is largely unchanged, but there are notable improvements from the arc version.
The Elephant in the Room
Not to skew negative right away, but one of the cons of the fixture is its physical size. There is no way to delicately put it—it is large and heavy. They can be hung at approximately 30” centers, and weigh 110lbs. without hanging hooks. If they were cats, they would be “chonky.”
The Best Boy LED road case, which carries two Best Boys, is built to allow for easier hanging on a truss or batten. It hinges open fully on top and sides allowing full access to attach hanging brackets. This enables a straight lift (with two people) up to a hanging position. It was trickier to maneuver into a staging position (floor light, enclosure down) due to its size, and was easier on our second attempt with a third person to steady the nose as we maneuvered it for a flip.
Big and Bright
The Best Boy LED’s engine is 850W Cool White, 7,000K uncorrected. The fixture draws 1,000W and unlike its predecessor can operate with power sources from 100-270V, which it detects automatically. It has on-board battery power so the address and other menu functions can be set before receiving power, which is nice.
We did not have an arc version of the Best Boy HP to compare it with, but on paper, PRG claims a similar output range at over 30,000 lumens. They are bright.
Dimming is fast, responsive, and generally smooth. It did show a fast bottom at the low end of the curve. Based on anticipated use of the fixture I would imagine this is not a problem for its general use. It is perhaps not for subtle theatrical applications.
Optically, their zoom ranges from an 8° spot to a huge 64° wide flood. The field is nice in most zoom ranges; we saw a bit of a hot spot present in tight zoom. The zoom movement is also fast and smooth for a fixture this size.
Surprisingly Fast
Based on its size, I anticipated the Best Boy to be a bit sluggish in its movements. I was pleasantly surprised by its speed in a number of functions. The first being pan and tilt—the fixture moves smoothly and relatively quickly. We put it through some fast pan and tilt effects and never felt like it was lumbering. It also stopped quickly and returned accurately to preset focuses.
The second set of surprisingly fast attributes are the Best Boy LED’s color mixing system. It uses a system of CMY color wheels, and it is incredibly speedy. The colors themselves are rich, particularly a gorgeous yellow. Color effects pop and with the overall brightness of the unit, saturated colors still transmit. Each of the wheels can spin continuously as well for an interesting color roll.
Best Boy’s variable color correction wheel is also impressive, taking the fixture from its native 7,000K to 3,000K. Color was consistent through the field, making it easy to correct for Best Boy’s other major use as a followspot. There is a user-changeable color wheel with seven slots as well.
Beam Stuff
Moving into the rest of Best Boy LED’s feature set, I’d like to start with its gobos. There are two nice sets of six gobos in two rotating wheels. The gobo selections are varied, mixing surface and aerial patterns. I don’t want to get anyone sued, but several of them remind me of historically useful gobos from classic automated fixtures. There are reasons many of these (similar) types of patterns have stood the test of time, and I am glad to see them here. As you would expect, they rotate smoothly with variable speeds and will also do a gobo wheel spin.
The gobos work well with the three Prism effects in the Best Boy. There is a four- and eight-facet prism, and a linear extruder. Used with the various gobos, you can produce unique and varied patterns. The bright source pays dividends here as well, of course—even with a gobo and prism, the fixture is still punchy. The focus/edge adjustment also works well—optically, the fixture can sharpen on gobo and beam effects at most zoom ranges.
Oddly, the variable frost, which is good from soft to heavy, shares the same wheel as the prism effects. I don’t know if this would irritate me in the long run, but it seems a strange choice to combine two good features in such a large fixture enclosure. The four-blade shutter system is smooth and responsive with rotation up to 120°. Its strobe function is fast and strob-y. And to complete the feature set, it has an iris, which is iris-y.
Best Boy LED Spot luminaire.
At a Glance:
Big, but Surprisingly Nimble
The PRG Best Boy LED is big but surprisingly fast, with a rich feature set geared for larger venues and applications.
PRG Best Boy LED Spot Luminaire
PROS
- Bright!
- Good optics: Huge zoom range, sharp beam, or gobo edge throughout
- Fast, rich color mixing
- Good gobo selection
- Good prisms
CONS
- Chonky!
- Frost and prisms on same wheel
- Low end of dimmer curve and bulk make it less ideal for shorter throws and quieter applications
SPECS
- Light Source: 850W Cool White LED Engine; 7,000K
- Output: 30,000+ Lumens
- Zoom: 8:1; 8° – 64°
- Range: Pan – 615°, Tilt – 260°
- Input Range: Auto-sensing voltage input, 100-270V, 50/60Hz
- Power Draw: 1,000W; 9.09A at 110V, 4.11A at 208V, 4.10A at 240V
- Color Mixing: CMY system with crossfading color wheels of cyan, magenta, and yellow, plus a designer wheel with seven user-changeable color filters
- Color Temperature: Adjustable color correction wheel, 7,000 to 3,000K
- Color Wheel: 7 colors
- Rotating Gobos: 6 + 6, indexable, rotating gobo wheels
- Framing: Four-blade framing system features four, independent blades mounted in two planes. Each blade can be tilted +/- 30° and the entire system can be rotated +/- 60° for a total travel of 120°
- Iris: Mechanical Iris
- Frost: Fully variable, light to heavy
- Prism: Multiplying four-facet, image extruding, multiplying eight-facet
- Dimming: Electronic dimming
- Control: DMX512-A, RDM, sACN, and Art-Net; 46 DMX channels
- On-Board Control: Built-in LCD touchscreen display for control and feedback. On-board battery power for configuration without AC Power.
- Connectors: TRUE1 power input, XLR 5pin in/out, etherCON (x2)
- Operating Temp: 32° to 120°F (0° to 49°C)
- IP Rating: IP20
- Dimensions: 41.5” H x 19.15” W x 16.75” D
- Weight: 110 lbs. (without hooks)
- Warranty: two years for light engine; two years for complete fixture
MANUFACTURER: PRG
