[adouglas]

Regarding the question of how much it helps... a light smoke won't really do anything. A dark smoke is just like a pair of sunglasses. No more, no less.

Reflective and dark smoke are pretty much the same as far as how dark they are.

A lot of reflectives are brown vs. neutral gray. Personal preference. AFAIK the reflective deal is just for appearance's sake.

After carrying two shields (PITA) for a long time I finally bought a helmet with a flip-down tinted visor (Schuberth S2, currently on closeout at Revzilla for $375). Love it.

The next one might be a Shoei with a Transitions visor, though. The simplicity appeals to me.

The flip side is that AFAIK Transitions lenses have this sort of purplish hue. Not sure if I'd like that. Also not sure how dark they really get. And finally, the transition isn't instantaneous. Come out from under the trees into the bright sunshine and you'll have to wait a bit for it to darken, but the warmer it is the faster it happens.