TechRadar Verdict
The Narwal Freo X Plus is an inexpensive way to get vacuuming and mopping in a robot vac, but it’s a bit flawed. While the vacuuming is good on hard and carpeted surfaces and its petite base station makes it easy to install just about everywhere, its mopping capability is just okay and it doesn’t always do as its told in terms of where it cleans.
Good vacuuming on hard floors / rugs
Easy setup
Voice assistant support
Dock doesn’t take up much space
Very cheap for a mop-vac
Inconsistent cleaning behavior
Mopping is just okay
Mapping has some shortcomings
No auto-empty function
Why you can trust TechRadarWe spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best.Find out more about how we test.
Narwal Freo X Plus two-minute review
The Narwal Freo X Plus is a budget-friendly robot vacuum and mop that does many things well, but a few things fairly badly. If you’re just looking at the pros and cons list, the score of this review might not make sense as there are plenty more positives than negatives – but those few negatives can make for a frustrating experience.
If you’re willing to put in the time to understand this model, it could potentially be one of thebest robot vacuumsfor you, especially if you’re on a budget. After all, most of thebest vacuumsthat include mopping ability are not going to be this cheap, unless you get something manual like theBissell CrossWave OmniForce. When it comes to robot vacuums specifically, the price tag for great performance, feature set, and overall functionality goes way up.
The vacuuming performance of the Narwal Freo X Plus is very solid. However, like most budget models that just pull a single stationary pad across the floor, its mopping capability is just passable. Still, you’ll generally end up with clean floors.
However, the Narwal Freo X Plus seems to have a mind of its own. Unless you just set it to clean your whole space in the most thorough way possible, you’ll end up with incomplete cleaning cycles. Or it might decide to head off on a different, unassigned job.
At least it has a tiny base station, so that the Narwal Freo X Plus is easier to place than most robot vacuums. Another added benefit is that it’s possible to pair and use through a voice assistant like Alexa. All in all, the Narwal Freo X Plus is a somewhat capable robot vacuum that comes with some frustrating aspects, such as its erratic cleaning behavior. But they may be worth dealing with if you’re on a budget, or just want to be able to do a basic, whole-home clean.
We’ve tested a couple of other models in the same range: read ourNarwal Freo X Ultra revieworNarwal Freo X reviewfor more on those.
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: price & availability
The Narwal Freo X Plus is available in the US and Australia, with a list form of $399.99 / AU$899. That puts it in TechRadar’s budget price bracket, which is particularly significant when you consider it offers mopping as well as vacuuming functionality. Of course, whether it’s a good value buy or not will depend on whether you’re okay dealing with its navigational quirks. It will still deliver fairly clean floors, but can be a pain to deal with.
This is not necessarily unique to the Narwal Freo X Plus, as the recently reviewedEcovacs Deebot N10 Pluscame with its own quirky frustrations, not to mention weaker suction power than the Narwal, and it comes with a higher $649.99 / £499 / AU$999 price tag. It is, however, available in the UK unlike the Narwal, and comes with better mopping ability.
One of the strange things about the Narwal Freo X Plus is the fact that the company’s flagship,Narwal Freo X Ultra, offers much better cleaning performance along with a range of other bells and whistles. Granted, that one is far more expensive (the Ultra costs $1,399.99 / AU$2,299 – about £1,110), but it’s strange to see issues with the software given that it’s coming from the same company.
Narwal Freo X Plus specs
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: design
When taking a look at the Narwal Freo X Plus' design, the first thing that jumps out is in regards to its teeny, tiny base station. Since its only function is to charge the robot vacuum and give it a place to rest, it doesn’t need to do a lot. Still, it’s cute in its own way, not to mention makes it easier to find a good place in your space for the robot vacuum. Bigger models with self-emptying dustbins and water reservoirs, such as the flagship Narwal mentioned earlier, need a lot more space (although, of course, there are benefits of having these capabilities built-in).
As far as the robot vacuum itself, it has the typical rounded shape. There are two side brushes instead of one, giving it a leg up on the vacuuming front compared to models that only have one side brush. The main brush roll is of the anti-tangling kind so you won’t find it wrapped with hair, something that’s not always considered on budget robot vacuums.
The mop pad is of the single, flat variety that sits along the bottom back half of the unit. While it does apply some downward pressure, it doesn’t do much in the way of scrubbing. I’ll talk a little more about how this affects its performance below, but just know that this is normal for budget models and that more expensive ones seem to completely abandon this approach in favor of dual spinning mop pads.
Regarding the manual controls, there are just two buttons – a power button and a home button, each with a secondary function (start/pause/resume cleaning and child lock, respectively).
The Narwal Freo X Plus is a fairly sleek looking robot vacuum in its all-white aesthetic. That’s partially because it covers its small water reservoir and dustbin with a glossy white top that stays in place due to some cleverly placed magnets. Both the reservoir and dustbin are easily removable and easy to fill up or empty, respectively.
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: performance
There are a couple different factors to consider with a robot vacuum’s performance, but the core one is vacuuming. Luckily, the Narwal Freo X Plus does a very good job here. Thanks to having two side brushes, it’s able to get debris on either side of it. Since it has an anti-tangle brushroll, it’s able to tackle aside from charge cords (the kryptonite of all robot vacuums).
I ran this robot vacuum in a house with two French Bulldogs as well as four adult humans, two of whom have long hair, and it did a great job keeping the floor clean, picking up everything from smaller dust-like particles to debris the size of a leaf. It also picked up hair without issue and without any tangling. I even tested it with a pile of sugar and cereal and it took one pass to suck it all up.
I used it on tile, hardwood floors, and a small but thick bath mat. In terms of just vacuuming, this robot vacuum has the goods regardless of the surface. The Narwal Freo X Plus has 7800 Pa of suction power, which isn’t the highest on the market, but based on my tests is still enough to deal with most household cleaning requirements.
Its mopping capability is a little less stellar. I would actually describe it as okay. Since it has the one pad, it’s only applying downward pressure. So, somewhat dried pieces of mud in the foyer that a robot vacuum with spinning mop pads would pick up are unaffected. More frustratingly, unless I used the highest mopping humidity setting, it didn’t always wet the entire area it mopped, leaving slightly streaky results. If you are going to use this robot vacuum for mopping, my recommendation is to use the highest settings and be prepared to regularly refill the water reservoir.
As far as getting to the edges, it does well with vacuuming, thanks to those two side brushes, but doesn’t really get all that close when mopping.
The object avoidance, on the other hand, is pretty good. It won’t necessarily give a wide berth to any randomly placed object but it will brush up against it. When I placed the bath mat down, the Narwal Freo X Plus vacuumed right up to it on all sides before deciding it could tackle it. Only then did it vacuum it.
Where the Narwal Freo X Plus falls short is in how it decides to clean. When I use the Freo Advice setting in the app, it will take the strangest path. Maybe it’s only picking up certain debris on its sensor, but it will clean up maybe 20% of the area that it should. Also concerning, when I run to only clean a particular room, it will decide to move onto another room after finishing its initial job and start vacuuming there instead of returning to the base station. It’s frustrating enough that I would rather have it clean the entire space instead of attempting to do any kind of spot cleaning.
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: app
The Narwal Freo app is pretty straightforward to use, from setup to choosing the kind of cleaning you want to accomplish (vacuum only, vacuum and mop, and vacuum then mop). It’s also a fairly attractive looking app. I didn’t ever feel lost navigating to various settings, whether it’s adjusting the specific cleaning settings such as suction power or mopping humidity or opening up the schedule to plan a cleaning.
The map is pretty easy to use, and you can even see a 3D representation of your mapped space. Of course, it suffers from the same editing shortfalls of a lot of robot vacuum apps, where you’re limited on how you partition your space. If you have an open or semi-open floor plan like the space that I often test in, you’ll only be able to partition once as you can’t section a partitioned space in half.
On the bright side, setting it up with third-party control – I tested it withAmazonAlexa – was fairly easy to do. The only quirk is knowing the very specific phrases that it can understand. “Alexa, run the robot vacuum” doesn’t work, while “Alexa, ask my robot to start cleaning” does.
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: battery
Possibly because the Narwal Freo X Plus is a bit lighter on features than more expensive units or possibly because it doesn’t have spinning mop pads, its battery life of up to 254 minutes is quite a bit longer than what I usually see with robot vacuums. For reference, most units these days have up to 210 minutes of use.
While that’s more than enough battery life for even fairly large spaces, the robot vacuum will return to its base when necessary for an extra charge before continuing on with its task if it’s running out of juice.
Should you buy the Narwal Freo X Plus robot vacuum?
Buy it if…
You’re on a budgetThe price tag is about as cheap as you can go and still get mopping capability in a robot vacuum. If you don’t have the budget for a more robust model, the Narwal Freo X Plus is the way to go.
You want to use Alexa to run your robot vacuumThis robot vacuum pairs very well with third-party voice support, so if you want to ask Alexa to run your robot vacuum, you can.
You don’t have a lot of space for a base stationWith its diminutive base station, you don’t need a lot of space for setup. So, you can still use this robot vacuum even if you’re short on open space.
Don’t buy it if…
You want great moppingThe mopping capability falls a bit short if you want squeaky clean floors, especially if you’re hoping to pick up stains and messes.
You want to be able to spot cleanThe Narwal Freo X has some frustrating quirks, particularly with how and what it decides to clean. If you need better spot cleaning or a more quirk-free experience, look elsewhere.
Narwal Freo X Plus robovac review: also consider
Ecovacs Deebot N10 PlusThe Ecovacs Deebot N10 Plus is a little more expensive, but is still a relatively affordable way to get a robot vacuum with mopping. It has better mopping as well, not to mention a self-emptying base station. It, however, does not have an anti-tangling brush roll so does require a little more in the way of maintenance.
Read our fullEcovacs Deebot N10 Plus review
Narwal Freo X UltraIf you want the full-fat version of what Narwal has to offer, the Freo X Ultra is a much more robust cleaning experience with spinning mop pads that self-clean, a self-emptying base station with clean and dirty water reservoirs, and a whole host of features. It’s also much, much more expensive.
Read our fullNarwal Freo X Ultra review
How I tested the Narwal Freo X Plus
To test the Narwal Freo X Plus, I used it for a couple weeks to vacuum and mop the hardwood floors and a bath mat (to simulate carpeting) in my house. I also tested all the features listed in the app, from mapping to scheduling. I took note of how well the vacuum cleaned the edges of a room as well as around obstacles, not to mention running how the handheld vacuum performed.
Read more abouthow we test
First reviewed September 2024
James Holland loves checking out gadgets of all sorts, whether it’s audio equipment, laptops, or vacuums (especially of the robot variety), and does so for a number of Future Publications including TechRadar, Top Ten Reviews, Homes & Gardens, and T3. He’s built up an expertise for in-depth reviewing over the last four years. When he’s not putting in the work on the latest tech, he loves to travel, play music, and eat questionable food.
We might have our first look at the long-rumored Samsung tri-fold
A new form of macOS malware is being used by devious North Korean hackers
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus review: a performance powerhouse for artists
