I have wanted to buy a center mount snorkel for a while, but only recently did some research on it. I found out that they have a freestyle specific snorkel as well. Seeing as I mainly swim freestyle and a bit of butterfly, do you think I should get the freestyle snorkel or the regular center mount?
Anyone have any experience with either of the snorkels? I would appreciate any input/advice.
Syd
How would it work for us that breathe to the side in fly?
If you try to turn your head to breathe while wearing a snorkel the results will not be good no matter what stroke you are swimming.
The advantage of the freestyle snorkel is that it is easier to do a flip turn with. The disadvantage is that it doesn't extend as high above the water and is much more likely to lead to getting water in it. I much prefer the regular.
Center mount all the way. I can swim / flip / do everything I'd want with the center mount; with the freestyle snorkel, I'm doing nothing but sucking or blowing water out of the snorkel at all times.
I haven't tried the "freestyle" model but I've learned to flip turn OK with the ordinary model. I also don't see how the "freestyle" model could be any better for training head position, because the ordinary model is great. You can look straight down on center, and you get immediate visual feedback if you are wiggling your head around. Swimming fly with the ordinary model does not really work for me, but the snorkel is great for face-down dolphin kicking. It's my favorite training tool.
That's just the sort of information I was looking for. Thanks Allen. A video clip I saw suggested that the freestyle snorkel allowed for a more neutral head position (a lower head position as opposed to eyes pointed 45 degrees to the bottom of the pool). This is an important consideration as well.
I have the normal finis snorkel although I haven't used it much. It has a purge valve which the free snorkel doesn't have although I find the purge valve not overly useful. You can't push off really hard without the snorkel wobbling a lot but it is fine for turns otherwise.
