Abstract

• Narwal Freo Professional is an efficient robotic vacuum that makes use of tangle-free brushes and AI dirt-sensing know-how.
• The vacuum app is user-friendly, with good mapping capabilities and numerous cleansing modes.
• I used to be left impressed by the efficiency of each the vacuum and mopping options at this aggressive value level.

The Narwal Freo Pro is not the be-all-end-all of good vacuums, however for its value level, it delivers an efficient clear on par with rivals. I wrestle to fight pet hair from two cats and a big canine, and this vacuum’s tangle-free brushes and highly effective AI dirt-sensing are as much as the duty.

Worth and Availability

The Narwal Freo Professional is the 2025 addition to Narwal’s model of robotic vacuums. A few of Narwal’s different fashions (the Freo Z Extremely and the Freo X Ultra) retail for a whopping $1,400. The Narwal Freo goes for $899 on Amazon, however is commonly nearer to $700 when on sale. The Freo Professional follows the Freo as a extra reasonably priced possibility, with a instructed retail value of $700.

The Freo Professional ought to be on sale from March 28, 2025, with a reduction of $100. It is going to be obtainable for buy on Narwal’s web site and Amazon.

A Good Design That Suits in Most Areas

Though there is not something revolutionary in regards to the Narwal Freo Professional’s design, its strong, well-built, and compact (simply above 4 inches tall), which makes it a professional at cleansing beneath beds and different furnishings. Sadly, my sofa would not have a lot of a niche, so the Freo Professional could not clear beneath it. For the worth level, it may be slimmer. For instance, the Eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11s Max (considered one of our reviewers’ top picks for robot vacuums) is a mere 2.85 inches and the similarly-lauded Roborock Q5 Professional is beneath 4 inches.

Nonetheless, the Narwal Freo Professional’s construct allowed it to wash beneath most of my furnishings, which was a win for me.

The robotic vacuum is 13.7 inches lengthy and large, whereas the bottom station is 16.3 x 14.5 x 17 inches. The burden of the bottom station is eighteen.7 kilos. I positioned the bottom station alongside a wall, subsequent to an leisure cupboard, in a spot that didn’t get direct daylight (per the guide’s directions).

Assembling the bottom station was easy, and the vacuum was up and working after eradicating a bit of froth, attaching the facet brushes, and popping on the mop pads.

As for the supplies, the Narwal Freo Professional is a strong plastic that doesn’t really feel or look low cost. It may deal with a beating (although I wouldn’t suggest it), and after a couple of month of utilizing the vacuum I solely seen just a few small scuffs on the underside of its chassis.

The highest of the vacuum includes a energy button with an LED indicator mild, and a detachable prime lid to entry the mud bin.

Meeting from begin to end took lower than 10 minutes. Linking it to the app was additionally pretty easy—I scanned the QR code beneath the vac’s lid and added the system to the Narwal app (obtainable on Android and iOS), then began mapping my home.

It took about 10 minutes to map my 1,459-square-foot house, with labels for every room, and clever mapping of furnishings and obstacles. I may then edit this map within the app by creating cleansing zones, renaming rooms, and dedicating “no-go zones.”

Contained in the field was the vacuum, base station, consumer manuals, the AC energy cable, a reusable mud bin, and a disposable mud bin.

Good Mapping and Efficient Cleansing

The primary preliminary mapping of my house hit a snag—I am undecided what interrupted the method, however I needed to begin once more after the primary 301 sq. toes. This did not hassle me a lot, and solely delayed the method by about six minutes. As I beforehand acknowledged, the mapping course of was lightning-speed, and I used to be vacuuming the ground lower than 20 minutes after establishing the vacuum.

There are a number of sensors (LiDAR and in any other case) on the Narwal Freo Professional. The entrance sensors embrace a 3D structured mild for fast impediment avoidance (on the millimeter degree), ToF sensors on the perimeters that assist optimize edge cleansing and detect obstacles on the perimeters of the vacuum, and a 360-degree LDS laser radar scanner for fast, correct mapping. The map, although carried out shortly, was an correct structure of my house (apart from it inexplicably sectioning the hallway into three rooms).

I discovered these sensors so correct that the robotic would shortly change course if I used to be standing in its means, or if it encountered my huge canine mendacity on the ground. It will safely vacuum round my canine, with out truly pushing in opposition to him or attempting to hoover him (a giant plus for pet mother and father)!

Let’s get all the way down to the nitty-gritty of the matter—how properly it truly cleaned. I used the Narwal Freo Professional for over a month earlier than scripting this overview, and I can inform you my flooring have been higher for it. Though I want its profile was barely slimmer, the Freo Professional makes up for this in its suction energy and AI DirtSense know-how.

The Freo Professional hits as much as 8,500Pa suction energy (which Narwal claims is the “highest suction energy in its value vary”), selecting up “over 99% of particles.” The Freo Professional did effortlessly suck up hair, grime, mud, particles, meals, and no matter else the canine dragged in (actually), and left little in its wake. It did pretty properly with curves and corners, however there have been some situations the place it left behind some particles on the ground in tight corners (which is nothing new with robotic vacs).

I used to be pleasantly shocked that the vacuum wasn’t too loud (55dB minimal), however I additionally would not need it working whereas sleeping as a result of when it kicks into excessive gear it is distracting sufficient to need to hit pause whereas watching TV. It additionally makes fairly a little bit of noise when present process self-cleaning routines on the bottom station.

AI DirtSense Know-how Makes Your Flooring Even Cleaner

Not all robotic vacuums can sense how soiled your flooring are (lower-budget choices might lack this characteristic). The Narwal Freo Professional, can. Its AI options actually helped. What Narwal dubs its AI DirtSense is particularly for ground mopping, however the vacuum additionally intelligently detects when flooring have not been vacuumed shortly, and ups the suction energy when flooring are dirtier. At this level within the recreation, although, automated suction adjustment ought to be a no brainer, and a characteristic included on most mid-range choices.

What I most appreciated was AI DirtSense, which detects how soiled your ground is and decides whether or not an space wants re-mopping. As an illustration, my kitchen tile is commonly the dirtiest spot in the home as a result of cooking fails and my canine dripping water in every single place after consuming. On this space, it regularly mopped and re-mopped areas till the ground was glowing clear. The mop pads rotated at a velocity of 180RPM and delivered 12N of stress, efficiently banishing grime, stains, and spills.

This grime detection additionally involved the mop pads themselves—when the Narwal Freo Professional was on the bottom station and able to self-clean, it might wash them extra regularly if the mop pads have been tremendous soiled, then robotically dry them with followers and heaters (at 104-degrees Fahrenheit to maintain them freed from micro organism and mould).

My solely qualm with mopping was that Narwal would not embrace the Freo Professional’s proprietary cleansing tablets within the field. I could not get any since they weren’t despatched to me (and nonetheless weren’t on the market as of publication), so I am unable to converse to their effectiveness on flooring. I solely used clear water, which nonetheless labored properly.

Based on the model, they deliberately go away the tablets out as a result of shoppers might fear about whether or not their chemical compounds are dangerous to youngsters or pets, regardless of merchandise being “inspected and licensed.” After they’re obtainable for buy, you should buy them individually, however the model additionally acknowledged that clear water may also present an distinctive mopping efficiency (which I can affirm).

Tangle-Free Brushes That Do not Clog With Hair

One of many stand-out options of the Narwal Freo Professional is its brushes, which the model claims do not clog or tangle with lengthy, human hair and unruly pet hair.

Its brushes work in tandem. First, if hair will get tangled round one of many facet brushes, it reverses and adjusts the angle to attenuate the tangle, which loosens the hair. As soon as it’s loosened, the hair strikes towards the curler brush, which pulls it into the vacuum.

The curler brush has a conical form and strategically aligned bristles that don’t tangle in any respect. The design merely sucks up hair utilizing the rules of aerodynamics.

The photographs of the brushes have been after a month of use, and I by no means as soon as needed to empty hair from any of the brushes. There have been no gross clogs of hair at any level, and I’ve two cats, a big canine with lengthy hair, and my very own hair to deal with.

The one factor I did discover is that the curler brush sucks up small rugs. I had some shaggy tub rugs out and needed to dig them out of the comb after the app alerted me there was a clog. Sadly, that is probably the character of the beast for many good vacs, and a typical limitation. I additionally acquired clog notifications from a plastic bag and cat toys by chance left on the flooring.

Base Station, Self-Cleansing Options, and Battery Life

The Freo Professional’s all-in-one base station is not only a charger, however a complete administration system for the vacuum. Inside the bottom station are two sturdy plastic tanks for clear water (blue) and soiled water (clear).

It is also a completely self-cleaning system. The bottom station even cleans itself (not the outside, after all). It robotically washes the mops and dries them, has an easy-to-clean removable base (the place the robotic sits), and an automated mud bag sanitizing course of after vacuuming, in addition to a mud bag drying cycle after mopping.

I need to word that the disposable mud bag, nonetheless, is meant to last as long as 7 weeks. I discovered myself manually emptying the bag of particles and hair after two weeks, as a result of sheer quantity of pet hair in my house. You can manually empty them (although the model would not say so), however it’s kind of gross reaching in to take away all the things. I most well-liked to make use of the reusable mud bin included within the field. And when taking a look at replacement accessories on Narwal’s web site, they are a bit steep (so one thing to remember).

As for battery life, the Freo Professional may simply clear and mop my complete home with out working out of energy. A full vacuum cycle took about two and a half hours for the entire home, and it lasted for simply over three hours vacuuming and mopping many of the home, so its battery life benchmark of about three hours was correct.

Utilizing the Narwal App

I haven’t got rather a lot to say in regards to the Narwal app, apart from that it is glossy, well-organized, and simple to navigate. I may simply choose particular rooms to wash if I did not need to vacuum and mop my complete home. The app additionally gave me the cleansing choices—vacuum, vacuum then mop (for deep cleans), vacuum and mop (for upkeep cleans), and mop.

It included an choice to toggle on “Household with Pets,” to extend the frequency of mud bin upkeep and cleansing. I may additionally view my map in a 3D model, edit the map, choose which flooring was wherein room, recall the Freo Extremely again to the bottom station, and consider my cleansing stats.

The one bizarre app drawback I encountered was once I scheduled a cleansing routine for 1 pm (13:00 time within the app). For some purpose, the cleansing began each morning at 11 am (11:00 time within the app), and I may discover no option to edit the time zone or resolve this challenge apart from by scheduling the cleansing two hours forward for 15:00. Once I did this, the vacuuming began at my desired time of 1 pm.

The app additionally allowed me to see the place the robotic was at present cleansing, verify on its progress, and pause or finish a cleansing activity.

The app is intuitive, and should not give customers a lot hassle with navigating, setting actions, or map modifying. Most issues, nonetheless, are tucked away in classes, so anticipate to faucet the display just a few instances.

Ought to You Purchase the Narwal Freo Professional Robotic Vacuum?

I completely beloved the Narwal Freo Pro for its hair-banishing energy (pet house owners, this one is for you)! Though it is not a completely good good vacuum and mop combo, it simply competes with others obtainable in its value vary, and does a (largely) wonderful job cleansing each arduous flooring and carpeting.

It does have limitations, as most robotic vacs do, in that it often leaves behind some particles and crumbs in tight corners and crevices. And it may be fairly loud, however its clever cleansing options make up for that, and I would suggest it particularly to individuals who have quite a lot of hair dropping on their flooring.