A contemporary adaptation of the classic Smith Optics frame, the Lowdown 2 keeps a familiar silhouette with a new take on surface design and an updated flatter four base face front. Their performance is wrapped in a lifestyle look with a lightweight frame, no-slip megol nose pads, and the innovative ChromaPop lenses to enhance all the detail and colors.
It comes in a slew of frames and lens color options, with the ChromaPop version retailing for $179, and the standard for $99.
Features
The lightweight and comfortable frames are made from the Evolve eco-friendly castor-based injected polymer frame material with auto-lock hinges. At the same time, the Hydrophilic Megol nose pads are soft for comfort, and they increase their grip when you sweat, helping to keep the frames in place. They utilize a high-grade optical quality shatterproof and scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses with 100% UVA/UVB/UVC protection to protect you from the elements and the sun. They offer a four base lens curvature and anti-reflective and hydroleophobic lens coatings.
The tested model features their ChromaPop Polarized Gray Green lenses. It offers a traditional neutral gray base lens that is fine-tuned with a green hue to amplify the colors of life outdoors and then augmented with the ChromaPop color enhancement technology for maximum clarity, allowing you to see more detail effortlessly. The combination of polarization and ChromaPop maximizes color and contrast by improving the speed of visual processing, so you see a more accurate color, faster.
It has an anti-reflective coating on the backside of the lens to eliminate bothersome sidelight reflections, and the Hydroleophobic lens coating repels moisture, grease, and grime. Water beads up and disperses without streaking, and smudges from fingerprints are easily wiped clean.
Impressions
I love the ChromaPop lens technology, and it provides vibrant and true colors, and they truly offer a fantastic “pop” of color when viewing things. After using a pair of their sunglasses with ChromaPop, it’s hard to go back to something more standard. They protect your eyes from 100% UVA/UVB/UVC of the sun’s harmful rays. They offer an optimized colorful view, excellent optical qualities and are distortion-free with a high degree of clarity.
The anti-reflective coating on the backside of the lens helps eliminate sidelight reflections, which is quite functional, but it, unfortunately, accentuates fingerprint smudges. The Hydroleophobic lens coating helps repel water, grease, fingerprints, and grime, and beads water and offers easier cleanup.
I tend to use them for driving mostly, and they’re exceptionally comfortable and work well within the oddities of variable light occurrences inside a vehicle. They’re excellent for walking around town, the pool, the beach, and the usual local haunts and places we tend to frequent. They can be used for almost any activity, such as driving, walking, hiking, running, mountain biking, and just plain hanging out. For full-on mountain biking, I tend to wear a pair of sunglasses that have a more wrap-around lens, but these provide enough stay on security that they work just fine on bumpy terrain.
Bottom Line
The Lowdown 2 is stylish, lightweight, comfortable, fits perfectly, and stays securely in place. Most of the versions of the Lowdown 2 feature their superb ChromaPop lens, which enhances colors and contrast, offering a vibrant “pop” of color when viewing things. They’re my favorite pair of sunglasses for driving, and general hanging out around town, outside at a restaurant/bar, and walking around at venues and shows.
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