Narwal Freo Ultra X review: This all-in-one vac is better than ever

Price When Reviewed

$1,399.99

Best Prices Today: Narwal Freo Ultra X

$1,399.99

Narwal’s new flagship Freo X Ultra is the result of several years of improving on its all-in-one robot vacuum and mop. And with several design upgrades, better obstacle detection, and a more polished app experience, it’s easily the best version of the product yet.

The Freo X Ultra doesn’t look radically different from the Narwal Freo we reviewed a while back. The robot is 13.8 inches across and a bit over 4 inches tall due to the LiDAR turret on top, and it comes with the same gleaming white finish.

Underneath, there have been some significant enhancements. The robot, which has a max suction of 8,200 Pa, now has a unique U-shaped air duct that (unlike conventional curved ducts) allows the robot to maintain continuous, high-speed airflow, thus preventing debris from collecting around and clogging the inlet.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robot vacuums.

Roller brushes and mop heads

Its roller brush pairs bristles with cone-shaped rubber strips tilted at 50 degrees that direct air to the sides, preventing hair strands from wrapping around the middle of the brush and pushing them to the left where they’re sucked into the dustbin through an enlarged outlet.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

For wet cleaning, the Freo X Ultra features Narwal’s Reuleaux triangular mops, which apply up to 12N of downward pressure, depending on floor type, and rotate at 180 rpm, allowing them to scrub floors like commercial floor cleaners. It also includes Narwal’s EdgeSwing feature, which automatically rotates the robot back and forth to better reach around and into corners and crevices.

The robot navigates using tri-laser obstacle avoidance with LiDAR SLAM 4.0 integration, and can be controlled with the Narwal app or with voice commands via Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri. Additionally, the Narwal Freo X Ultra can be controlled using the touchscreen on its base station.

The all-in-one base station measures 17.1 x 14.6 x 16.3 inches (HxWxD). The station houses clean-water and dirty-water tanks, plus a slot where you can insert a bottle of Narwal’s lemon-basil scented detergent, which it uses to clean your floors and the robot’s mop pads. Narwal includes a 31-ounce bottle with the Freo X Ultra; replacements cost around $30 on Narwal’s website (it’s also available at Amazon).

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Setup and room mapping

Although it’s possible to operate the Freo X Ultra solely from the base station’s control panel, you’ll need the Narwal app for more fine control of your floor cleaning. That requires a simple app-driven setup process that prompts you to select the device from a product list and enter your network login credentials to connect the robot to Wi-Fi.

Once the robot is connected, you’ll need to prepare it for mopping by removing the clean water tank, filling it, and reinstalling it. If you’re going to use the supplied detergent—a personal choice, but I found the lemon-basil scent to be mild and pleasant—you’ll need to install that in its slot before replacing the filled water tank.

The robot does a quick mapping run without cleaning the first time you dispatch it, during which it tries to learn the floor plan of your home. The initial map it created of mine wasn’t accurate; the layout was correct, but it divided the space into just two rooms: the bathroom and everything else. You can edit the map to make it more accurate by merging or splitting rooms and applying proper names, which I did.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

The quality of the maps has improved since the last time I used the Narwal app. They now incorporate color to visually differentiate rooms and include icons to display carpet and furniture. You can also manually add cleaning areas and no-go zones to the map to customize cleaning jobs.

Cleaning modes

The Freo Ultra X has essentially two cleaning modes. Freo mode turns most of the control over to the robot. You select what type of cleaning you want to be done and in what order—vacuuming, mopping, or both, either sequentially or simultaneously—and then it decides how much suction and water to apply, how many cleaning passes to make, and so on, based on the job at hand.

Narwal’s DirtSense technology comes into play here. It determines which floors are the dirtiest, returning to those for extra cleaning while bypassing floors that are already spotless. It does this largely by monitoring the color and particles in the wastewater removed from the robot’s mops when it returns to the base station. If it’s dark and dirty, the robot will go back and clean the last area again.

The other cleaning mode allows you to customize all the particulars. You decide which room(s) to clean and how, as well as the suction power, water level, and cleaning pattern.

Performance

I liked the Freo mode results enough that I used it consistently during my testing period. It generally did a good job sucking up the dust, food crumbs, and pet hair that accumulate on my floors each day. The mop pads easily remove light dirt and grime, and even provided enough agitation to lift some of the mud tracked in on by my family’s shoes over several rainy days (although I still had to finish the job with a stick mop).

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Obstacle avoidance was noticeably better than in past Freo versions. Instead of having to meticulously clear the floor as I did with its predecessor, I could turn the Freo X Ultra loose confident that it could manage its way around backpacks, shoes, pet food dishes, and other items that are regular fixtures on my floors.

After each cleaning, the robot returns to its base station to have its mops scrubbed and dried. But there’s no self-emptying dustbin, so you have to manually dispose of all the dry debris the robot collects.

Narwal came up with a clever solution to make the chore a bit easier, though. You can swap out the 500ml dust bin for a 1-liter disposable bag. The Freo X Ultra includes three of these, each attached to a filter, and the vacuum compresses the bag’s contents each time it returns to base, enabling you to get about 7 weeks out of it before you have to replace it. When it’s full, you just toss it in the trash and don’t have to worry about releasing a cloud of dust into the air.

Narwal Freo X Ultra specifications

• Cleaning modes: Freo, custom
• Charging dock type: Automatic mop head cleaning
• Mapping: Tri-laser LiDAR
• Suction: up to 8,200 Pa
• Auto mop lifting: 12mm
• Mopping pressure: 12N
• Mopping type: Rotating mop ×2
• Base station dimensions: 17.1 x 14.6 x 16.3 inches (HxWxD)
• App control: Android and iOS
• Voice control: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri

Should you buy the Narwal Freo X Ultra?

At $1,399,99, the Freo X Ultra sits at the top end of the market. But unlike past versions of this product, it justifies its high price with great performance and a more polished user experience.

If you need help staying on top of your floor maintenance the Freo X Ultra is worth a look.