Snorkels for spearfishing - models / short /medium / long /camo / soft /...

[Mr. X]

Pinniped72, do mean this thread on double-pipe snorkels: https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/twin-pipe-loop-snorkel-diy.99148/page-3#post-954458 ?

...
@ Mr X: Nah, invisible wouldn't be my style. One of the reasons I was attracted to this sport was the cool gear. The long, elongated fins, the steeamlined suit, the black mask, the marsaillaise belt, the no-nonsense approach and the aire of aloofness. Does that sound arrogant? Yeah, probably.
OK; if you're a spearo I suppose you'd like the invisible cloak idea. I'm a freediver and I'm not just a vain F***** no, I'm a flashc*** too. No Vantablack for moi.

A little vanity is not an entirely bad thing, Lord Flashheart, I mean William. We all like cool stuff.

 

[Pinniped72]

Thanks for that Mr X, I did some googling yesterday, found the thread and have duly made one! A mouth piece from an old snorkel and some silicone tubing, internal diameter 9mm, from an aquarium shop and job done, I will be testing it out later today so here's hoping!

[Mr.X: You mean the thread I already posted this link for above for you? Here it is again: Thread on double-pipe snorkels: https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/twin-pipe-loop-snorkel-diy.99148/page-3#post-954458 ]

 

[William Freeman]

Hah, I found the loop snorkel thing again:


[Mr.X: See also: thread on double-pipe snorkels: https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/twin-pipe-loop-snorkel-diy.99148/page-3#post-954458 ]

 

[Pinniped72]

Well done that man, thanks for finding that

 

[Mr. X]

I just received my last 2 snorkels for this year (yes I went OTT ordering snorkels). They look particularly promising (& both include hi-viz tip markers ):

#8 Omer Zoom snorkel (black):
The classic modern spearfishing snorkel the Omer Zoom, as used & recommended by SA tuna spearo Miles (he favoured clear plastic, some 10 years ago now!), so I guess I knew that I would one day get one too. I opted for the basic black silicone version @ £6.95 from Scubastore - considerably cheaper than when I first looked at getting one many years ago (made in China). Darn, they just dropped the price another 50p now £6.45 @ http://www.scubastore.com/scuba-diving/omer-zoom/131824/p

Initial impression of Omer Zoom: Positive. Pretty normal looking- quite similar to the basic Mares snorkel but significantly less curved near the top - making the effective length of the otherwise similar length tube almost an inch longer & less protrusion below the the mouth should help reduce drag. Which snorkel clears easiest, quietest & most completely remains to be seen. Seems like a good length & shape tho' It just looks right (I suppose it is something of a standard).

 

[Mr. X]

#9 Imersion Seriole snorkel (black):
I am quite excited about this snorkel. This may prove to be the "dark horse" bargain of this entire experiment, @ just £3.95 from ScubaStore.com/DiveInn. I notice the packet has the "Rubber" option checked rather than the "Silicon" but I don't think that is a problem for me at this price. I would think my much loved 40 year old Typhoon snorkel was of similar construction - certainly the mask & fins I bought at the time were made of rubber, not silicone. Made in Taiwan.

Initial impression of Imersion Seriole snorkel: Lovin' it - it has the biggest bore (one website says 20mm diameter) of any of the snorkels mentioned thus far. I don't anticipate clearing being a problem for me but those of smaller stature/lesser lung capacity it might be but then some folk remove their snorkels to dive, so perhaps not a concern for them? Also the mouth piece is unusually large - I would say this is a big snorkel for big divers ("old skool" - most modern snorkels have relatively small mouthpieces). More curved near the top than the Zoom but less curved than the Mares, however this has a simple straight cut top (albeit tilted slightly) - making it one of the longest snorkels in this gathering (along with the Cressi).

 

[Pinniped72]

I had an omer zoom, a great snorkel, you will love it, I had the brown mimetic and dropped it in murky( normal round my way!) water and trust me its good cammo I will get another one although the Immersion looks really interesting I have tried the loop snorkel and it isn't for me, back to the tried and trusted I think!

 

[William Freeman]

That Imersion snorkel looks alright. In Euros it's only 4,45 now. Mhmm.
Does anyone have a Sporasub Breeze? I've never held one in my hands. I have the green/black Mystic mask and I love that, so the green/black Breeze would be a nice match.

 

[Mr. X]

William, you have already invested in the mask designed to match it, so it would likely make some sense to get one*. It gets top ratings in reviews from the 3 people on Amazon who have reviewed it: http://amzn.to/1nCndHY . Sounds like it has a decent size bore, a good balance of flexibility & stiffness and matt finish suitable for spearing - sounds like a winner (except perhaps the price inc. shipping), perhaps the new standard for this decade? If you get one, please review it here.

*Writing as one who recently bought the gloves & socks to match his wetsuit!

 

[Mr. X]

Just tried out the Imersion Seriole snorkel there is absolutely no discernible resistance & almost no breathing noise, you could probably run a marathon wearing this sucker! Rather than sand it to remove the slight gloss finish I used coarse wire wool and it looks awesome now This is marked as a rubber snorkel (rather than silicone) but I would imagine the same technique would work as well on silicone. This is now my favourite snorkel and, remarkably, it's the cheapest

Big bore snorkels (~20mm diameter): Imersion Seriole & Mares Dual.

Surprised to see the Mares snorkels are about the same diameter as the Imersion but the Mares snorkels are a bit squashed for ergonomics/hydrodynamics(?) & consequently a tad noisier/more resistant.

Regular bore snorkels: Omer Zoom, Cressi America, Cressi Corsica

 

[Pinniped72]

Many thanks for the review Mr X, the Immersion seems to be a no brainer

 

[William Freeman]

Mister X, I read that the mouthpiece is made of rubber instead of silicone. Does it smell and taste of rubber? I ask because I had a snorkel with rubber mouthpiece years ago and the smell never ever went away, just like my OMER Marseillaise which I still keep in a separate plastic bag even after using it 20 times, because it stinks like an old tyre factory.

 

[Mr. X]

No, I recall no smell from this one - although several had various "new" pongs out of the bag. It seems just like the others, if I had not read the packet I would not have known. I would expect letting them air and, possibly, rinsing them in water, perhaps including dishwashing liquid or plain soap would be more than enough to fix that. I can't fault this snorkel so far (it has the best tip marker of the bunch too) but I haven't tried it in the water yet.

If you prefer silicone though, the Mares snorkels seem pretty good & the standard one is £6 or £7 I think. The slightly more flexible Dual (material) model a few quid more. But for me, I see no difference or benefit from the material in this case.

Re. your rubber Marseille belt, I would suggest perhaps not keeping in a plastic bag if you dislike the odor. I have 2 RA Marseille belts: the one I use - which has weights, etc, attached - I keep in small canvas shopping bag. No smell. Just rinsing it with cold water after use, it is still good after 9 years of use & abuse and weight additions/removals. I sprayed it with silicone spray for the first time last month. My spare belt I keep rolled up in a plastic bag, to preserve freshness - I would freeze it but it needs to be available in my dive box.

I let most of my gear breath. The only exception is spare rubbers, which are sealed in air-tight bags & frozen. Most is kept in a garage, so it remains cold in the off season & cool in the summer.

 

[landshark sa]

That Imersion snorkel looks alright. In Euros it's only 4,45 now. Mhmm.
Does anyone have a Sporasub Breeze? I've never held one in my hands. I have the green/black Mystic mask and I love that, so the green/black Breeze would be a nice match.

The Sporasub Breeze is pretty much the only snorkel I use nowadays. I don't know if the dual compound construction really counts for anything as to me this functions just like any other snorkel. What I like about it is the deeper loop section in the mouth piece bend which is able to accommodate a bit of water even when doing a full lung inhale.

My standard surface interval is usually around 2 minutes of just relaxing and clearing my mind while doing normal breathing. I don't do belly breathing or any other special breathe-up. So I don't notice water in the snorkel until I do the last full lung pre-dive breath. I find that when using snorkels such as the Omer Zoom which has a shallow loop section that the water which accumulates in the bottom of the loop restricts a proper full lung pre-dive breath. This means I firstly have to forcefully clear the snorkel before taking the last breath pre-descending and for me that mucks around with my surface resting routine.

I also shorten them a bit for use when playing underwater hockey. While playing hockey I have however managed to bite through the mouth piece "teeth tabs" on a couple of occasions so making the mouth piece material a bit tougher / harder is the only thing I would change.

One snorkel I'm curious about is the Riffe Stable. I've never really liked the idea of a purge valve worrying that it may cause excessive bubbles but after reading some reviews I'm quite keen to try it. Any one else have experience with these?

 

[William Freeman]

@landshark sa, thanks for that. Interesting about the deeper loop section. That's the reason I have a snorkel with a hidden purge valve, because I hate it when I get water in on my last breath too. It puts me off.
This way I'm more or less purging every time I exhale.
I don't spearfish so it doesn't matter if the snorkel causes bubbles. I've never actually paid attention to it, but I will next time and I'll let you know.
This is the exact snorkel I use:

There's no writing on it, nothing. Just a matt black snorkel.
No-one has ever even noticed I have a purge valve. I would say the bore is average (20mm) and the mouthpiece is very non-infringing.
It's the same model as sold by Leaderfins and a bunch of others. Just google snorkel with hidden purge valve.
I can't say much about the Riffe but the purge valve looks huge.

 

[Mr. X]

That is the most discrete/neat purge valve snorkel that I have seen.

Water trapped in the tube is a pain but is unnecessary, my old Typhoon snorkel didn't suffer from this problem but many/most snorkels I have used since, including the Beuchat Tubair Activa, do sometimes/often retain water in the bottom, which makes a noise & impairs anything other than very controlled, slow breathing; which can get really annoying when you want to take a big breath. On some snorkels is almost impossible to clear too (sometimes squeezing the bottom of the J when the snorkel helps but what a fag).

Interesting that the Breeze is one of the more expensive snorkels, yet has no hi-viz tip marker (fashion/camo/cost saving?) & no mask strap retainer,(presumably you stick it under the mask strap or through the comfort "web" than many masks have at the back of the strap these days). Users seem to like it and the bore looks quite large (20mm?). Hi-viz tip markers are potential life savers and, on balance, I prefer snorkels to include a mask clip - even if I choose not to use it sometimes - that can be attached/detached at he start/end of the dive. Perhaps the best clip I've used it that feature on the Seacsub combat snorkel shown near the start of this thread and, interestingly, ScubaStore/DiveInn, sell them separately - perhaps because they are adjustable for both snorkel size & mask strap size. Being soft, they are also more forgiving than most clips.

Fron £1.45 or £1.95 for clear:
http://www.scubastore.com/scuba-diving/seacsub-snorkel-retainer/127261/p
http://www.scubastore.com/scuba-diving/seacsub-pack-universal-snorkel-retainer/87150/p

 

[Mr. X]

Tried the cheap, large bore Immersion snorkel today. It worked fine but was not as good as I had hoped, not as good as the 40 year old Typhoon snorkel. Mouth piece is bit tall, biting down deforms it, works better if you don't bite down. Clearing was disappointingly hit or miss. Inhaling quiet and easy. Probably just need to get used to it but I want to try another snorkel tomorrow...

 

[Pinniped72]

I personally found the Omer to be very good, I will be very interested how you find the Cressi's, I look forward to the reviews

 

[Mr. X]

I tried the Omer Zoom today and, in calm sea at least, it worked almost effortlessly. I would be happy to use this snorkel for ever more. Almost as good as my old Typhoon snorkel. The hard/brittle clip came undone early on but then seemed to settle in ok. Excellent snorkel so far.

 

[Mr. X]

I was going to try the Mares today but then saw this:

..., I will be very interested how you find the Cressi's, I look forward to the reviews

Tried the long Cressi Corsica. Again the clip failed early on but then settled down OK. I like Cressi clip better than the Omers. It is noisier than the other 2snorkels but the more I use it the more I liked it. There was a lot of small high frequency chop todày and it handled it with ease. The small mouth piece feels odd due to the visible moulding but it was pleasant enough. Excellent snorkel with homemade tip marker added. I slightly prefer the Zoom but this Cressi might be better in choppy conditions.

BTW I have seen several near identical snorkels to the Cressi Corsica on the web and in Venture Sports (Imersion and Apnea or Epsealon I think). Mine has Cressi branding and is flexible but stiff enough.