We've come a long way since the days of the massive Oakley Eyeshade, made famous by Andy Hampsten as he triumphed over Mother Nature's frightful wrath during the 1988 Giro d'Italia. Granted, his fateful trip over the Gavia Pass couldn't have been done with much less than a full goggle like the Eyeshade. But under more palatable riding conditions, the Eyeshades fogged too easily, and weren't compatible with then-evolving helmet technology. The same necessity for maximum coverage with minimum interference still exists today in the sunglasses we wear, but luckily, our modern shield lenses have advanced a great deal since '88. The Pivlock V2 Max from Smith is one such evolutionary leap. At first glance, the biggest difference between the new V2 and the first-generation V90, is the absence of the split arms. The V2 features slightly chunkier, albeit still fantastically lightweight (the V2 Max only adds a gram or two from the V90 Max), and expertly branded arms that create slightly better leverage when swapping out the lenses. A closer inspection reveals several other subtle design changes giving the V2 a clear advantage over its predecessor. The first is the adjustable nose piece. Rather than simply flexing, the piece has three distinct set widths, allowing you to ratchet the pads open or closed depending on how low or high you prefer your frames to fit. A small detail to be sure, but it thankfully removes a lot of the ambiguity or imbalance found in nose pieces whose pads adjust independently of each other. Smith also went with a new slide-on Megol temple tip that terminates several millimeters from the end of each arm to keep the tips gripping only the sides of your head, without hanging up on the sides of your ear. Again, a very subtle detail, but a comfort-enhancing improvement. Aside from the arms, the new V2 also boasts a dramatically different lens. Granted, it follows the same dramatic horizontal sweep and tight pantoscopic angle of the V90, but the old lens'.