Snorkeling

Over the past few years, additional options have emerged for snorkelers. One of the biggest snorkeling innovations to hit the mainstream is the full face snorkel. First introduced in 2014 full mask snorkels were initially manufactured by a small set of reputable companies. As excitement around this new product grew a number of smaller less reputable manufacturers flooded the market with poorly constructed versions which lead to some issues and concerns. Over the last few years, the quality and reputation of full face snorkel masks have improved. This piece of equipment has provided potential snorkelers with an additional option which helps make the sport of snorkeling even more accessible than it has been in the past.

What is a full mask snorkel?

A full face snorkel is a type of snorkel that covers your entire face, allowing you to breathe through your nose and mouth.

Full Face Snorkels have some benefits

• Make it easy to breathe naturally, increasing the level of comfort in the water for people who are nervous and less comfortable with swimming in water but who still want to explore what the oceans have to offer.
• The flow of air tends to help prevent fogging which can be an issue with normal snorkeling masks
• Wide field of vision – because of its design and large viewport this type of mask has a wide field of view which allows you to take in fantastic underwater sights.

Full Face Snorkels also may have downsides

• Poorly constructed or ill-fitting full face snorkels are thought to have issues with CO2 buildup. A CO2 buildup is extremely dangerous and can result in the snorkel user passing out.
• Poorly fitting masks can leak, a leaky full face snorkel mask can be dangerous as you cannot easily expel water and if you struggle to remove it quickly this can quickly become a disastrous situation.

To the question: Are full face snorkel masks safe?

In short – yes they appear to be when compared to regular mask and snorkel. A recent December 2021 study by DAN (a very well known and reputable dive safety organization) & Duke University on full face snorkels had some interesting insights. Which I have summarized below:

Their data did not show statistically that full face snorkels are riskier for snorkelers

The goal of the research was to investigate these questions –

• How full face snorkel mask work?
• How breathing gas is delivered?
• Do they work as advertised?
• What else they should look at in the future?

Their theories / hypotheses of how full face snorkel masks malfunction were:

Inadequate Gas circulation – There is speculation in the industry that CO2 accumulates in the mask, and oxygen levels are lowered.

Full face snorkel mask are more difficult to remove – compared to a regular half mask and snorkel or that the user need to make the full face snorkel tighter

Poor gas flow – i.e users are trying to breathe but not getting enough to get the gas to move – like breathing through a small straw.

About the experiment:

The experiment was designed to address each of these theories.

• The study was small scale looking at only 10 participants
• 5 participants were over 18 and medically fit to snorkel
• 5 participants were 18-40 and had to also have passed a fitness test. -this group would be used to test what is was like snorkeling in a current where extra effort was required.
• 7 mask types tested – 4 made by dive manufacturers and 3 based on lowest price on Amazon
• 20 total data points were captured – frankly I was surprised at how small this study was.

Masks were adjusted for research to have sensors for the following

• Pulse Oximetry – to look at saturation of O2 in the blood
• Inspired gas contents – what was the make up of the air – O2 and CO2 levels
• The pressure needed to breath
• Tested mask removal time and measured force between mask skirt and face compared to a regular mask and snorkel

Conclusions from the study

• Inadequate gas circulation was not supported by the data. They found the full face snorkel to be consistent with a normal snorkel
• Difficulty removing masks also not supported by the data – there was no real difference in the amount of time it took to remove a full masks snorkel vs a regular masks and snorkel
• Data partially supported the poor gas flow theory – but will require more research. increased pressure required if some water got into the mask. PRice was not really a factor but only a few were evaluated (7) and it was 2 of the lower price full face snorkel masks that had issues – apparently based on their design which had lower vents which were more quickly blocked by water in the mask. This water make it harder to breathe. So the interpretation of this data is the lower priced amazon masks which cannot be tied to what was manufacturer have a lower amount of development resources and are therefore riskier. So be careful with the some of the masks available out there!

Digging Deeper into the flow of air issues

• The researchers looked deeper at the manufacturing – pulled the valves and tested these valves into a test apparatus. Looked at the pressure to crack the valves and the cross sectional size of the valve.
• Majority of the masks have lots of resistance to inhalation and little to prevent breathing in from the exhalation side (Note the design of most of these masks is fresh air is designed to come down the middle of the snorkel tube and exhaust gases out the sides (i.e. there are 3 channels in the snorkel tube 2 for exhaust 1 for fresh air.
• Masks didn’t function as advertised – flowed through all three channels -bi direction gas flow through all three channels – i.e. they didn’t really work as designed. The uni-direction valves did not seem to operate. But the end result was that it really didn’t seem to matter.

Final thoughts about the study

• Full face snorkel masks have the same approximate gas volumes as a traditional snorkel – so there was no advantage or disadvantage to a full face snorkel vs a traditional snorkel for breathability, both provide adequate O2 and CO2 removal.
• More regulation of full face snorkels may be warranted to control quality and breathability.
• No equipment is a substitute for comfort in the water. You need to be comfortable being in the water no matter what type of snorkeling equipment you use.

So there you have it – a quick run down of full face snorkel masks and some of the recent research on the some of the risks or downsides often associated with this type of equipment.

Updated on: December 05, 2023