Here is a swimmer’s complete review of the TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel, including things to love (and not love).
Swim snorkels!
Pretty much the best, am I right?
Well, sometimes.
If you’ve swum with a swim snorkel more than a few times, you know that they aren’t all built the same.
Today, I am breaking down a review of the TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel.
Made by Huntington, California-based TYR, this snorkel isn’t just lightweight at just 175g but it’s not “lite” (see what I did there?) on features, options, and accessories.
Let’s dive in.
TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel: Things I Liked
Over the course of several swim workouts at my neighborhood pool, I put through the TYR Ultralite through its paces.
I swam with it long course. Short course. Did flip-turns with it. Long underwater breakouts with fins.
And so on.
Here are the things that stood out the most:
🏊 The head piece can be adjusted vertically easily.
This swim snorkel can be quickly adjusted to your preferred height of the bracket on the tube.
While I tightened it to my liking outside of the water, I played around with the height on the head piece after I’d gotten into the pool without needing to take it off. Apply a bit of pressure to the bracket and it can be moved up or down.
🏊 Optional added air flow resistance.
The TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel comes with two caps that you can fasten to the top of the tube to create more air resistance.
Think of the caps as like a training mask for reducing air flow and requiring your pulmonary muscles to work harder (strengthening them, in theory).
The two caps are moderate and advanced (aka less air flow and way less air flow).
🏊 Mesh transport bag included.
This is something a surprising number of swim snorkel don’t come with—something to transport it in!
The mesh bag, similar to a mesh swim bag that we’d lug around the rest of our swim stuff, is made of breathable mesh to allow the snorkel to dry quickly.
🏊 One-way purge valve at the bottom of the tube.
Purge valves are something important to look for, especially if you are new to using a swim snorkel and you are nervous about choking on water (let’s be honest, we all are on some level).
The purge valve clears water that you don’t push out with your breath.
🏊 Silicone mouthpiece.
Soft on the mouth and easy to “grip” with your teeth, which is crucial for those long reps and swim workouts that call for lots of snorkel use.
The mouthpiece is also simple to remove; make sure to clean the tube and mouthpiece frequently to avoid mold from building up.
🏊 Easy(ish) to adjust head strap.
Even though I wasn’t wild about the two straps to keep the snorkel in place (more on that in the things I didn’t like about the snorkel), the snap-and-secure buckle on the back of the snorkel is fairly easy to adjust.
🏊 Hydrodynamic bend to the tube.
One of the main benefits of a swim snorkel is that you can wear it and replicate your normal swimming technique.
I’ve used snorkel in the past that had a tube that stood too vertical, and I ended up crashing my arm into it if my hand entry wasn’t good. Which means that when it comes to a good swim snorkel, I want it to wrap over my head.
Even though the bend of the tube on the Ultralite snorkel looks more like someone taking a hard right turn, the snorkel wraps well over the top of the head.
I’ll admit that when I first pulled it out of the packaging I didn’t think the snorkel would be as hydrodynamic as it was, but there ya go.
🏊 Head band sits well.
This comes with a big caveat: the head band is comfortable once you find that sweet spot where it’s comfortable.
This is the same with all swim snorkels. For me, the band sits well just right above the eyebrows.
First time you put on the TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel, you will want to try a few different spots on the forehead before tightening it.
The head band is a little stiff, and you’ll feel it when it’s not sitting somewhere comfortably.
TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel: Things I Didn’t Like
Although I really like the snorkel, and it didn’t leak, there were a couple of things that I wasn’t wild about.
These are relatively minor, but worth noting:
The head straps are exactly like swim goggle straps.
There is a lot of benefit to dual head straps: they help to keep the tube of the snorkel more stable by giving two points of pressure.
But with this snorkel, and the two head straps that are the same size and material as my swim goggles, I found that the back of my head felt like a spaghetti bowl of head straps.
(You could tuck your swim goggles under your swim cap to sidestep this issue…)
So added to my regular swim goggles, this made for a busy situation on my head, with the equivalent of four goggle straps wrapping around my head.
A little wobble.
Compared to some of the other swim snorkels I’ve tried out, this one wasn’t as stable when swimming all-out with fins and paddles.
Which kind of surprised me, to be honest, as I thought with the double head strap that it would be less wobbly.
(Certainly wasn’t as stable as the MP Michael Phelps Focus Snorkel or the FINIS Stability Snorkel).
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day (or rather, at the end of swim practice), there was a lot to like about this snorkel.
It was comfortable, stay mostly in place while swimming (save for a few moments when I was doing my best Caeleb Dressel with fins and paddles on), and the optional air resistance caps are a nice touch.
The TYR Ultralite 2.0 Swim Snorkel retails for around $40 (check Swim Outlet for current pricing and deals), comes in flat black, and is one-size-fits-all.
Beau Cormier is a former NCAA I swimmer, US Open National finalist, and swim nerd. When not swimming or working for a data company, you can find him running the trails of the Pacific Northwest with his wife and dogs.