but the point of a snorkel is to keep the water out of the intake if you happen to go deeper than the hood...
Not necessarily.
The purpose of snorkel can be broken down into tow major benefits (no counting aesthetics as a benefit
), those being water fording protection and induction air. Motors like cool, clean air. Air pulled from within an engine bay can be neither, thus an added benefit that most don't realize with a snorkel.
Many modern vehicles have surprisingly low air cleaner intake pickups, for example a common 4Runner/Tacoma pickup is no more than say 30" off the ground, yet the hood height is 10" higher. A snorkel doesn't guarantee them roof deep water crossings, but it protects them from catastrophic failure in the event you were to dip your passenger side front end into a 3' deep spot in a river crossing per say.
Water protection doesn't stop with a snorkel, you need to make sure your axles, trans, t-case, distributor, compressors and electronics are sealed or vented. Some fellow RME'ers can testify to the time I put the front end of my Land Cruiser into a deep water hole, deeper than I dared cross but the damage was done. Though my cases were all vented, my ARB compressor was not, in the half-minute my front end was submerged my compressor cycled for just a few seconds, filling it full of water and subsequently destroying it. I've now set it up to be vented along with the cases. I'm also running an o-ring sealed dizzy though through the liberal use of silicone I'd think most could achieve the same effect.
A snorkel to me is tool, like a winch, a Pull-Pal, a hi-lift, a Ready-Welder... When the time comes for you to need it, no trail side innovation will effectively nor efficiently replace it, call it cheap insurance.
