Thread: Cheap Snorkels

Originally Posted by Hendrik

Hi All,

I've noticed that there are a lot of cheap snorkels getting around on ebay at the moment, like less than $100 cheap. Has anyone fitted these to their D2?

Personally I prefer the more subtle type snorkels like the Mantec ones but obviously you pay for those, but I'm interested in hearing how these cheap ones actually go.

You said cheap and that describes exactly what they are, you get crap quality. It amazes me how some are anal about maintaining their TD5s then put cheap crappy snorkels on them. One forum member fitted one and after a few year ended up painting his to seal up the holes it developed.

A few years ago there was an article published explaining that the plastic in some cheap snorkels was not as UV resistant as it needs to be to survive in Australia.

It was published by a company selling or making one of the brand name snorkels, but there did seem to be evidence in the article to support their criticism.

Found the link.
Don't Get Burnt - Low Quality Snorkel Copies

The problem is Safari makes them in Australia, but the price is just too high. They send them overseas and the overseas retailer can sell them back to the Aussie punter cheaper than purchasing the Made in Australia snorkel here.
Having said that you can buy the genuine article cheaper overseas, the punters are still attracted to the elcheapo Chinese copies , price drives their minds.

I bought a cheap snorkel and it sucks.

Well that's all it does. No problems. No holes. No drama????

If you check even the Land Rover specialists in the UK sell them now.

How long have you had it?
How much of the time is it exposed to direct sunlight?
Inability to survive prolonged UV exposure is supposed to be one of the problems with the cheap snorkels.

I'd love to support Australian manufacturing, but over $500 for a plastic snorkel just doesn't feel right. Not much more complex than a plastic rubbish bin, and a similar number of moving parts, I would have said the Safari Snorkel should have been less than $200 from the outset.

Its hardly surprising then that knock offs have flooded the market, and are so well supported by Australian consumers.

And better UV resistance isn't enough to justify the price differential.

I've got what I assume is a cheap snorkel on mine, it has discovery written on it.

It came on the car when I got it and the PO said he didn't fit it. So I know it is at least 4 years old.

Condition wise it looks fine. probably holding up better than some of the other plastics. No cracks either. There is some rust on the upper mounting bracket that I need to address. But other than that it looks and feels ok to me.

crappy photo I know. It is still black (more so than it appears to be in the picture)

I too put one with Discovery written on it on my D2 six years ago. I think it cost ninety odd dollars. It too sucks well and has no signs on degradation at all. I am perfectly happy with it.
Nick.