ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Narwal Freo Pro is now available for $500 (a $300 discount).
- Construction is optimized to prevent blockage and hair tangles, with a conical brush on a single floating arm and a hair-loosening side brush.
- The dust bag didn’t last me the claimed seven weeks, and the robot’s object detection leaves a lot to be desired
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A recent trip took me and my family out of town for 10 days. I like to leave my house as clean as possible before leaving town to ensure I come home to a clean house: fresh sheets on the bed, no dishes in the sink, laundry folded and put away. This last trip was hectic, with three little ones, so while I checked most of my items off my to-do list, I couldn’t mop my floors before heading out.
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To that end, I delegated the task to the Narwal Freo Pro. I’d set it up and tested it for some time before leaving, but running it daily in my absence would be its biggest challenge yet.
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In my tests, the Narwal Freo Pro performed well in keeping my floors clean. It has fantastic suction on hard floors, performs a decent job of mopping, and can clean with minimal intervention. However, it didn’t always avoid cords on the floor, the suction performance wasn’t as great on carpet, and its dust containment didn’t last me near seven weeks.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
I was curious to see how the Narwal Freo Pro would do cleaning my house while my family and dog were gone on our trip. During testing, the robot’s obstacle avoidance wasn’t the best, though this is understandable at this robot vacuum’s price point. Unfortunately, I’ve had to rescue the Freo Pro a handful of times after it tried vacuuming a sock, tissue, the corner of a blanket, and a few charging cords.
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However, while I was gone, I ran the Narwal Freo Pro every other day, and it didn’t get stuck on an obstacle a single time, which was impressive. Being able to leave your robot vacuum to clean your floors while you’re away at work or sleeping is one of the best uses you can get out of such a device, yet it’s not often possible.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
While it offers a hands-free experience, the Narwal Freo Pro doesn’t have a self-emptying dustbin. Instead, it has a dust bag in place of the usual dustbin, which holds dust and debris. The large bag has a one-liter capacity, which is three times the size of a regular robot vacuum’s dustbin.
The robot has a built-in dust compression system that compresses the debris it collects, then dries it with warm air to reduce the likelihood of odor development. While Narwal says this dustbag can last up to seven weeks before needing to be replaced, your mileage may vary. Mine did.
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My bag filled up in three weeks of use, but I have a very hairy dog that must have an evil plan to make a carpet out of his hair on my hardwood floors. I ran the Narwal Freo Pro multiple times a week, since I need a vacuum to run at least daily to keep my floors clean, so the bag filled up quickly. Thankfully, this just means that the hair is inside the robot and not on my floor.
ZDNET’s buying advice
I love the feeling of coming home to a clean house. It makes the stress on my shoulders dissipate as soon as I walk through the door. I’ve had a few robot vacuums offer that clean-home feeling, but most fail to truly deliver on it. I was glad to see that the Narwal Freo Pro delivered this feeling.
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If you’re looking for a midrange vacuum priced between $400 and $800, you can’t go wrong with the Narwal Freo Pro. It’s especially good if you have mostly hard floors and will appreciate the hands-free mopping feature. The only caveat is that you may have to replace bags more often than others if you have pets, which is a maintenance cost you should consider.
