We ran across Narwal and their lines of vacuum, mop and cleaning robots at CES 2024. Our studio needed a new cleaner and the Narwal Freo X Plus was an affordable and versatile option to try. With so many options flooding the market, finding the perfect balance of performance and value can be daunting. What sets the Narwal Freo X Plus apart from the competition?
In our first video we cover setup to functions to overall value. Read (and watch) on for the pros and cons we found in the Narwal Freo X Plus.
Narwal’s thoughtfully designed packaging not only protects the robust Freo X Plus but also ensures an effortless unboxing experience. A well labeled insert with step-by-step instructions made putting it together a breeze. The Freo X Plus box comes in over ten pounds with all the parts included. Simply snap on the side brushes, remove the packaging, fill the water tank, and you’re ready to let the Freo X Plus work its mapping magic. It came with one washable mop pad already in place and a filter in the canister installed. Extras for each of those are found in the box.
Affiliate links (Amazon currently on Black Friday)
Buy on Amazon —> https://bit.ly/narwalfreoxplus_idonotes
Buy direct from Narwal —> https://bit.ly/narwaldirect_idonotes
Once you decide where to place the base station it is time to launch the app and let it start mapping. The powerful and intuitive app opens up a world of customization, from scheduling cleanings to configuring specialized zones, making the Freo X Plus as user-friendly as it is advanced. We will be dedicating some additional setup tips and trick videos to our YouTube channel. In short (and not nearly complete) all of the following were part of the app:
- Adding multiple devices (bluetooth and wifi)
- Mapping out room
- Configuring floor types
- Configuring special zones (extra duty or no-go)
- Strength or number of times to vacuum or mop areas
- Schedules
- Adding furniture to the maps
- Seeing where it is in the floorplan at any given time and the paths it has taken
- As a bonus, the Freo X Plus integrates seamlessly with Alexa and Siri, allowing effortless voice-activated commands
- This list is exhausting so go see our additional detailed videos
Now that we are live and the floor(s) mapped by the Narwal Freo X Plus, it is time to get to actual work. The Freo X Plus always left the base in the same start pattern. Depending on which room, zone or mode we had set it took off for it’s duties. It had warnings if the bin gets too full, water gets too low or it gets stuck. With its impressive battery life, the Freo X Plus efficiently tackled over 1,000 square feet of vacuuming and mopping, consistently returning to base with more than 50% charge remaining.
Pros
What we enjoyed:
- The app is feature rich with tons of customizations
- The price puts this in strong contention for multi-function robots
- The battery life
- Compression of the debris in the bin
- Mapping out zones and cleanings
Cons
What we struggled with:
- Mopping works but is a wet mop dragging more than a pressure scrub
- Sometimes it would spin, ignore an area, spin, go somewhere, spin and maybe not come back to finish or maybe it would
- Customer Support was very slow in our test
Vacuum and Mop Capabilities
Vacuum strength was above average at 7800 Pa suction. It performed stronger when you went into the app and designated types of carpet or flooring it was working on. Another reason to explore our app tips videos later. We tested piles of crumbs and it recognized it needed to spin a few times around the spot. We threw the same along the walls and the brushes gently moved the debris in front of the vacuum for pickup. We will talk about the container and bin cleanup at the end of the review together.
While the Freo X Plus employs a weight-based mop mechanism rather than a pressurized scrub, it performs admirably for daily upkeep, handling general spills and stains with ease. For general and daily cleans it works well. For heavy scrubbing it never quite got it all. What we found was using this right after finding or dropping something on the hardwood or linoleum or it did the job. A spot we left to harden up for testing for days would get partially lifted. We just changed the schedule and added a zone for daily mopping and that solved that problem. The mop is designed to lift 9mm when it sense carpets to keep them dry. Of course, we did not measure this height but we did not see wet streaks on carpets anywhere.
Base Station and Charging
While the base station focuses on charging, its practical design ensures easy maintenance with quick pop-out bins and water containers. Though it lacks self-dumping, the simplicity of its system enhances reliability and ease of use. We had no problems with this since both the water container and the bin easily pop out as shown in the video for easy dump or fill. It comes with a nice plastic pad you can place under it to protect floors if you use the mop head. The brush head is of the anti-tangle variety leaving no trace of hair or other items. We tossed one of those hair wrap black circles down and it pushed it through without tangle. However, some larger debris somehow sneaks around the container itself. Which means when you lift the lid to pop out and dump the bin, wipe out the bottom where you can find some extra dirt.
Additionally, when it goes home there is a feature to consolidate down the debris by running air to compress the dirt down. This gives longer times between emptying the bin that Narwal touts as a leading feature. If you have pets that get scared by the compression sound, Narwal even allows you to turn this off in the app. That was a nice and interesting touch.
The product documentation offers the following capability for how it maneuvers around the floorplan
Tri-Laser Obstacle Avoidance – Triple lasers avoid hazards at the millimeter level, while edge sensors enable accurate edge cleaning around obstacles. Paired with LiDAR SLAM 4.0, BX1 gets a 360° view of surroundings for ideal pathfinding.
What we found was it did a better than average job at identifying objects and caused it to spin often to validate location and obstacles. We let it free float near the stairs and it identified the fall off point and mapped it as a edge point.
Conclusion and Buy/No Buy
We realize we could go on, but want to cut to the chase since you can also watch the video. At under $400, the Narwal Freo X Plus offers fantastic value with its robust suction power, versatile cleaning modes, and advanced app integration. Catch it during a Black Friday sale, and it becomes an unbeatable deal. The suction strength, combination capability, advanced applications capabilities for an under $400 ( as of this posting) priced unit make it a buy here at Spiked Studio.
Affiliate links (Amazon currently on Black Friday)
Buy on Amazon —> https://bit.ly/narwalfreoxplus_idonotes
Buy direct from Narwal —> https://bit.ly/narwaldirect_idonotes
