Narwal Freo Z Ultra review: forget about your floors
MSRP $1,500.00
“The Narwal Freo Z Ultra does an excellent job cleaning floors and requires little manual input.”
Pros
- Unique dock design
- Quiet operation
- Massive dustbin
- Adjustable hot water mop washing
Cons
- Expensive
- Mops only lift 12mm
The Narwal Freo X Ultra was one of our favorite robot vacuums when it launched earlier this year because it offers a unique aesthetic and powerful performance to back up its looks. The brand has now officially revealed its successor at IFA 2024 — the Narwal Freo Z Ultra. It’s a big improvement over the Freo X Ultra, making it a great choice for shoppers seeking a hassle-free robot vacuum.
You’ll need to drop a fair bit of cash to get your hands on it, and it still doesn’t have a perfect solution for tackling plush carpets, but it’s a well-rounded robot that makes big strides in all aspects of its performance.
Getting started
From unboxing to vacuuming, you’ll spend less than 20 minutes setting up the Narwal Freo Z Ultra. After plugging in the device and syncing it to the Narwal mobile app, all that’s left is a quick mapping run to determine the layout of your home. After that, it’s ready to take over your chores.
The mapping process was shockingly fast, as it took the vacuum only a few minutes to analyze the entire first floor of my condo. Not only was it fast, ibut t was surprisingly accurate. I didn’t have to make any manual adjustments, though if anything does get overlooked or you’d like to modify something, the Narwal app gives you plenty of freedom to do so.
I’m also a big fan of the Freo Z Ultra’s docking station, which essentially covers the entire robot vacuum when it’s not in use. This helps protect the device from curious pets or children and gives the unit a clean look. Docks from most competitors leave the robot exposed while charging, making the Narwal instantly stand out from the pack.
Quiet and automated performance
Narwal went to great lengths to ensure the Freo Z Ultra doesn’t interfere with your daily life. It’s remarkably quiet for a robot vacuum, capable of operating at just 58 decibels (a typical volume for robot vacuums is around 70dB). And while the Narwal can certainly be noisy at higher suction levels, it’s great to have a low-power option that’s quick and quiet.
It’s especially great around pets. Neither of my normally anxious pups was scared by the noises produced by the Freo Z Ultra, which is a big win for pet owners. It’s also great at detecting (and avoiding) pet toys and accidents, ensuring it never stumbles into a mess.
The docking station is almost as quiet as the robot itself, as it pulls out dust from the robot vacuum quickly and quietly, running for just about 5 seconds.
You’ll find the device to be relatively self-sufficient, with a dustbin large enough to hold up to 120 days of debris before needing a replacement. That’s close to double the capacity of other robot vacuums, making the Freo Z Ultra mighty enticing if you want a hands-off system. Coupled with its ability to wash and dry the mop (it adjusts settings based on how soiled they are), and you’ve got a robot that doesn’t need much babysitting.
For further automation, the robot supports Google Home, Alexa, and Siri.
Cleans edges without a swinging mop
Many robot vacuums nowadays are designed with swinging mop pads, enabling them to clean near baseboards and around furniture. Narwal took a different approach with the Freo Z Ultra, building it with triangular mopping pads and a twisting behavior that helps reach small crevices and increases its overall coverage. It’s a cool feature — even if it does look a bit strange in action, with the robot twisting and turning its way through the kitchen. As a bonus, a detachable duster on the side of the unit cleans baseboards as the mops clean your floor.
The mops can produce up to 12 Newton units of downward pressure, and they had no problem tackling daily messes such as spills and stains during real-world testing.
When traveling on carpet, the mops can raise 12mm — which isn’t ideal for plush carpets. If you have low pile carpets or rugs, this won’t be an issue, but for areas with thick rugs, you may see the very tips of their fibers grazing the mopping pads. Compared to other robot vacuums that either detach their mopping pads in the docking station or stow the mopping plate on top of the robot, this leaves a bit to be desired.
Aside from that caveat, there’s little to complain about with the mopping skills of the Narwal Freo Z Ultra.
Impressive carpet cleaning
Kicking out 12,000 Pa of suction, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra is one of the most powerful robot vacuums available today. It combines all that power with the Ultra-Quiet Zero Tangling Floating Brush 2.0 — which is a fancy way of saying the brush won’t succumb to tangles when picking up hair and pet fur. The brush is equipped with a silicon pad to help reduce operating noise, and it works well at low levels.
Turn the power up all the way, and you’ll experience more noise, though it’s still a marked improvement from the Freo X Ultra.
Toss in two side brushes to help pull in dust and debris, impressive obstacle avoidance, AI DirtSense to automatically adjust its settings, and a dustbin that gets you 120 days of service before needing a replacement, and you’ve got a robot vacuum that checks all the right boxes.
Verdict
At $1,500, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra is one of the most expensive robot vacuums on the market. It’s also one of the most powerful, offering a staggering amount of suction, a large dustbin, and a unique solution to cleaning near baseboards. That makes it worthy of a closer look for most shoppers — though keep in mind that it may not be ideal for homes with plush carpets, as its 12mm mop-lifting clearance isn’t as compelling as the solutions offered by iRobot or Dreame. But if you need something that’s powerful, automated, and provides a robust mopping and vacuuming experience, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra is a good option.