That's not been my experience at all. I had a 14x3 ("Edelbrock" was stamped in the top to match the intake manifold, not that it matters) on my '78 Cherokee with a moderately built AMC 360 and heard the ping from hell when water reached the top of the #1 piston. The water was from a deep puddle on pavement, not a stream crossing or a mud bog; it was blown back by the fan onto an already wet filter element that had seen about an hour of dense fog before the 20 minutes or so of driving rain came along. I was powering up a very steep hill with secondaries at least partly open judging by the sound of things at the time, moving a lot of air. And being tickled by how much power the engine was making with all of that cool, damp air, too.

With the FIPK, the filter element is out of the line of fire, next to the fan shroud, mostly enclosed by the heat shield, and not where splashed water might go. I'd have to sink the front of the truck to get any significant water to it, and I'm not much of one to cross streams with my truck that I haven't already crossed on foot. I'll leave that stuff to those who are curious to know about the next undiscovered point of water entry into their mechanicals, or about which parts are most prone to thermal shock cracking.

Still, there's a sock ("drycharger") on the way that's going into the toolbox until I figure I need it.

Maybe my experience was a freak, but I'm one who's twice shy after being bitten. And I figure there's got to be a reason why those who build for stream crossing and deep mudding to install those goofy looking snorkels on their intakes, too.