Who or what is Narwal? The newcomer to the vacuum robot arena pushes its $1299 Freo into price spheres where only established names like Roborock, Ecovacs & Co. usually dare. Have they overestimated the robovac’s capabilities? Or can the Narwal Freo really hold its own against the established competition? NextPit has tested the vacuuming and mopping robot—and reveals the unique features of the device.
Good
- Fast, straightforward setup
- Precise mapping
- Touch screen on base station is more than a gimmick
- Solid suction and mopping performance
- Long battery life
Bad
- Slight weaknesses on carpets
Price and availability
Here comes a new challenger: In terms of suction and wiping performance, the Narwal Freo easily keeps up with the best vacuum robots with wiping function. The battery performance is also convincing, and the Narwal app also offers you a wide repertoire of settings. Bonus point: There is a touchscreen at the base station for controlling the Freo.
On the whole, the Narwal Freo showed no weaknesses. Only on carpets did the Narwal Freo offer a tad less suction power than the best-in-class model. With the total package of performance, the vacuum cleaner is cheaper than you might expect: The vacuum robot with a wiping function costs $1299 according to the recommended retail price.
This review is part of a cooperation between Narwal and nextpit. The company, however, had no editorial input on nextpit’s opinion.
Unpacking and setting up
The Narwal Freo is quickly set up and scans your four walls just as quickly. The base station has an eye-catching design – and offers a unique way to control the robot vacuum thanks to the available touchscreen.
Pros:
- Futuristic and modern design of the base station.
- Touch screen in the station.
- Simple setup.
- Fast and reliable mapping.
Cons:
In addition to the solidly made vacuum robot, the box includes two wiping pads, two side brushes, a tube of cleaning agent, and the base station. Setup is quick: set up and connect the base station, insert the wiping pads and side brushes—and push the robot into the station. You then need to fill up the tank for clean water and put it in the station along with the cleaning agent.
The next step is to set up the robot vacuum cleaner in the Narwal app. The Narwal Freo is also set up within a few minutes and ready for its first patrol. You register with your email and establish a Wi-Fi connection. Then you add the vacuum robot in the Narwal app and let it guide you through the tutorial.
The mapping works without any problems. The Narwal Freo does not have an RGB camera, but it still scanned our office precisely and in a few minutes thanks to the LiDAR navigation. After the first exploration tour, the scanned floor plan is displayed in the Narwal app. You can also choose between a 2D and 3D image of your living space.
The Narwal app is bursting with settings options. You can specify exactly how you want the Freo to clean your home and have the option to increase both suction and wiping intensity during the cleaning process. You can also decide how long the air drying of the mop pads should take and how regularly it should take care of corners.
Finally, there are the usual options in the app to set schedules for certain rooms and spot cleaning. You can also have the robot clean busy rooms twice or three times and define no-go zones. Finally, the option to activate a parental lock is practical for families with small children.
The unique thing about the Narwal Freo is that you can control the robot vacuum not only with the Narwal app but also using the touchscreen on top of the base station. You read that right: the base has a touchscreen! What sounds like an unnecessary gimmick is in practice a handy way to control the Narwal Freo. After all, you don’t necessarily always have your cell phone in your pocket at home—or all family members have the vacuum set up in the app.
You can send the vacuum robot on patrol, set the cleaning mode and call the Freo back to the station. You can also see the battery level on the screen and additionally set the mop cleaning.
It is particularly impressive how smoothly swiping and wiping works with the touchscreen. In summary: The screen is a great alternative to operate the Narwal Freo without having to pull out the smartphone.
Suction and wiping performance in the test
The Narwal Freo really vacuums and mops thoroughly in the test. Thanks to the automatic mop cleaning, the station only requires limited maintenance. The Narwal Freo was unmatched in terms of battery performance.
Pros:
- Good suction performance.
- Excellent mopping performance.
- Mop pads are cleaned automatically.
- Tank for cleaning fluid.
Cons:
In the nextpit benchmarks, the Narwal Freo did exceptionally well. In our test, the vacuum picked up 99% of dispersed oatmeal from smooth surfaces. Even fine particles—sand in our practical test—were no challenge for the cleaning devil. We weighed out a full 99% of the dispersed sand in the dust container again after the suction process.
| Test volume (g) | Suction volume (g) | Efficiency (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oatmeal (tiles) | |||
| Sand (tiles) | |||
| Sand (carpet) |
However, we noticed that the robot vacuum cleaner leaves the one or other dog hair lying around. Unfortunately, there is no exact information about the Narwal Freo’s suction power in the datasheet. Hard-to-reach surfaces and corners were an easy task for the Narwal Freo. Two available side brushes help the robovac there. Speaking of side brushes: These are raised when the Narwal Freo is only supposed to mop.
The Narwal Freo is a bit weaker on carpets. The robot vacuum devoured 96% of the scattered oatmeal and a whole 93% of the scattered sand from our test carpet. If you have delicate or expensive carpets at home, you don’t need to worry: The Narwal Freo automatically raises its mop pads as soon as it drives onto carpets.
The mopping performance is also excellent—especially with the included detergent. The Narwal Freo thoroughly removes lightly dried ketchup stains without multiple scrubbing passes. In the test, it is also noticeable that the Narwal Freo does not leave a sticky bottom and thus not only distributes the ketchup thoroughly but also actually absorbs it.
The battery life is just as convincing. After a 58-minute cleaning tour, the cleaning devil has cleaned 34 m2 and lost just 18% of the battery. When the Narwal Freo has finished its work or needs new energy, the robot vacuum informs you via voice output and returns to the station independently.
Once the robot vacuum has finished recharging, it continues its work where it left off. The robot vacuum needs just two hours for the charging process. In comparison: The Roborock S8+ (review) needs 2.5 hours more (!) for the complete charging process.
Conclusion: How does the Narwal Freo perform in the test?
The Narwal Freo convinces in all aspects of the review. The suction and wiping performance is impeccable, and the battery life is also excellent. The base station rarely requires your manual intervention due to the numerous automated processes, including what the company calls the “World’s First DirtSense™” for ultimate cleanliness—which in layman’s terms includes tech to automatically detect extra dirtiness that requires an extra cleaning pass. The operation via the touch screen on the all-in-one station caused special amazement in the nextpit editorial team.
All in all, the Narwal Freo hardly showed any weaknesses. Only on carpets does the Narwal not vacuum as efficiently as on smooth surfaces. Nevertheless, we can give you a clear purchase recommendation for the Narwal Freo, because you get everything you could wish for in a vacuum robot with a wiping function—and that at a fair price of $1299.
