...another example of timing being everything... but bummer, dude. I hope you got over it.
On-topic,
Watercooling 101 does a comparison of PVC tube, clearflex and Tygon in terms of transparency, curve factor and fitting. Results suggest that Clearflex is considerably better than PVC, but Tygon is just that bit better still when it comes to transparency, fit on barbs and bendability.
As with everything, you pay for what you get (and then some
). Clearflex is a cheap and decent alternative to Tygon.