Narwal Freo Z Ultra Review: Why It Won 2 Vacuum Wars Awards!

[@VacuumWars]

Narwal Freo Z Ultra Robot Vacuum at Amazon: geni.us/p1jHV1n Vacuum Wars Top 20 Robot Vacuums: vacuumwars.com/best-vacuum-cleaners/robot-vacuums/

[@decafam3410]

No matter how many awards, the brand name alone of this unit is a huge fail.

[@Gggfff64]

I've used many robot vacuum products for years, including the Roborock Qrevo Master, Roborock Qrevo S, Narwal, and Eufy. While I think the Narwal Freo Z has made notable improvements in obstacle avoidance, it has some significant drawbacks. First, the lack of a water tank on the device reduces mopping efficiency by about 30%. Second, its corner-cleaning performance is almost nonexistent due to the absence of an extendable mechanical arm-something competitors in the same price range, like the Roborock Qrevo Master and Qrevo Slim, have already achieved. Lastly, the Narwal's "smart swing" feature, which claims to mop corners, often misses spots. I’d suggest comparing options thoroughly and making a more objective decision before purchasing.

[@kajeijlers9812]

One of my main deciding factors is 'can I buy it at CostCo', since they are all hit and miss and being able to return it if I don't like it after trying for a month is worth a sacrifice in features to me.

[@nsbd90now]

It is wild some of these robot mops are out-performing some of the upright wet-mop vacuum things.

[@RADRaze2KX]

Ugh man THANK YOU, I've had this robot since release and I'm thrilled you finally reviewed it! THANK YOU THANK YOU! I promise future vacuum purchases will be done AFTER you've reviewed them (and using your links) I just REALLY wanted this vacuum because I was extremely happy with my OG Freo. This new one RULES!!!

[@Philosophey]

The flaws of your carpet deep cleaning test really showed up in this review. You should tell the robot to vacuum the carpet twice (crisscross pattern) like a regular user would do. I've never understood why you make the robot clean the carpet for 5 minutes. It does not reflect the real world usage as you say in this video. Furthermore, the speed of robot also affects the results which would not the be case in real world. Please consider revising it like the recent useful tests.

[@cabot100]

It seems he does extensive testing. Musch longer than the 5 minutes you claim, not sure if I know anyone who live in a home where the floor is cleaned in 5 minutes. To truly compare and rate something like vacuums, it seems standardized tests would be a good way to compare performance. Maybe you do not believe in the scientific method? If you have a better approach that would help in rating things, we would appreciate you sharing that.

[@axion8788]

I have owned my current Roborock for almost 5 years during which it has run 3,354 times covering 554,500 square feet. Nonetheless, you recently covered the LEVOIT Cordless Vacuum Stick Vac which I bought on Black Friday for $150. It is simply amazing! Standing in the kitchen it is often easier to use it than to instruct the robot to clean an area. Many thanks for providing such informed and unbiased assessments in this category of consumer products.

[@fatplanediaries]

Good to see narwal is coming strong, more competition is always good

[@Vacuumexpert]

Awesome video. Love the effort you put into making every vacuum wars episode and I love it when you say welcome to vacuum wars at the beginning of every video.

[@Alice.59]

Can we remove 100000000 points each time a brand do one of those crap proprietary stuff like the detergent ?

[@mrbobsevil]

It's not that bad. You could easily refill them with whatever you want. It's not against the law lol. Yet you will find yourself simply paying $10 every 6 months for the refill instead.

[@caseyatx1202]

I actually prefer when the cleaning solution is.a built in feature and the mixing occurs automatically when the mops are washed. Plus, I like having a solution from the manufacturer versus using a third party cleaner that may or may not cause issues with the robot and base station.

[@JustMyOpinion974]

You didn't mentioned it not having a water tank and the implications of it.

[@cabot100]

Information about this can be found on Narwal's website.

[@MohdRadhwan]

True it has no internal water tank in the robot and it takes longer time to clean a whole house because it needs to contantly return to the base station to clean the mop pad and remop the floor resulting longer time to finish.

[@WyattOShea]

@@MohdRadhwan Which isn't really a problem imo like what does it matter that it takes longer as long as the job is still done?.

[@MohdRadhwan]

@@WyattOShea It matter to some people especially when guest/family members want to visit your home in short notice and you need the job done quickly.

[@WyattOShea]

@@MohdRadhwan I see but at the same time if you're having it clean the place often enough then I fail to see the issue as your house would still be clean enough for people to come visit you.

[@WrestlingDivaz]

I can say this is the best robot vacuum for pet owners. I've owned several brands over the years and every one has had issues with emptying its dustbin with dog hair. This one is perfect and doesn't get hair caught either. A must have if you own dogs.

[@ValeryLovejoy69]

i had dreame l10s ultra before i bought this one on black friday. my dreame broke cos of a water tank inside the robot. so i decided never again i will buy a robot with that tank inside. my narwal does better job in mopping the floors IMO. it has better pads , they are thicker and hold more water, also the cleaning station station feels QUALITY. and obstacle avoidance is on another lvl, it never ate a cable or a sock, or a dog/cat toy (im a proud owner of 3 cats and a dog). Its also very quiet, you can have a normal conversation or watch tv without blasting the volume. anyway, i love my narwal. Oh! and also i got it in gray, i think it looks so much better than white the cons is there is no extendable side brush, but for me the pros i listed above are more important

[@Eagle-Striker]

I hope Roborock also gets this system (binocular camera with dual Ai chip) to get this perfect obstacle avoidance ability.

[@vacuumfreak95]

@Vacuum Wars, you have GOT to review the Narwal S20 Pro wet/dry vac! I purchased one, and I am blown away by the performance. I have tried many vac mops, and this one is the best!

[@Lancers262]

Pretty crazy how much competition has changed. I started following this channel years ago and iRobot dominated his reviews. Now iRobot vacuums are one of the worst to get.

[@C0okieman2009]

🇨🇳🇨🇳 #1!!!

[@fZionists78]

He admittedly used to pander to sponsors, so who knows how good it really was in comparison.

[@wa4cbg]

You didn’t mention that it doesn’t have an on board water tank.? Doesn’t this affect the performance?

[@randomize04]

I wonder if these vacuums will ever have a "test mode" or "benchmark mode" mode where it will optimize itself for your tests like what Intel and Volkswagen did in the past

[@adrispiro9426]

Hmm, this is strange. No water tank, no extendable side brush, and no extendable mop sides. It takes twice as much time to clean the floor because it doesn’t have a built-in water tank, meaning the robot has to go back to refill frequently. Despite this, the robot is ranked in 4th place? 😅 Something feels off. Yes, the Narwal J series is good, but this one is a decent robot-not a flagship.

[@RADRaze2KX]

I disagree, I've had mine for two months now, the robot goes back to CLEAN THE PADS frequently. Yes it takes longer, but it also leaves the floor cleaner than onboard water tanks that just redistribute the contaminated water.

[@caseyatx1202]

I really can't grasp how the Freo Z landed at number four. While I can't speak to the QRevo Curv, I have used the QRevo Slim, L40 Ultra, QRevo MaxV, and eufy Omni S1 Pro over the last six months and the Freo Z really stands head and shoulders above them all. I understand Vacuum Wars has a methodology to its testing and scoring (and appreciate that they acknowledged their enclosed testing platform probably negatively impacted the Narwal's scores) I just find the Freo Z to be truly impressive and I think you'll be seeing a lot of other robot vacuums copy its formula in 2025. The obstacle avoidance is damn near perfect, and this is the first robot vacuum I've ever used where I can truly set a schedule and forget it. This thing just does not get stuck. It is also SO QUIET. It's amazing just how low the noise levels are both for the robot and the station. I think this would easily be the best robot vacuum on the market if Narwal addressed three minor things: add a small on board water tank so the robot doesn't have to go back to the station so often, add a swing out mop for true edge mopping, and continue to improve the app so that it's a bit more stable and user friendly/intuitive. Other than those things, I literally cannot think of anything that needs improvement. If obstacle avoidance, quiet operation, and/or mopping performance are your priorities trust me when I say, get the Freo Z. You will not be disappointed.

[@kajeijlers9812]

I think the lack of onboard water tank was not an oversight but a conscious decision. It'll go back to wash the mops so it's just mopping shorter with dirty pads like it would have done if it could re--wet them during the run.

[@adamhufnagel1448]

Eurekas j20 does this with a brush roll during an outing. Not sure how dual spin could achieve so.

[@mrbobsevil]

Narwal is garbage compared to any of those other brands. For mopping, the eufy S1 pro has no comparison. For vacuuming, roborock is the undisputed king.

[@rh50412]

Why do you try so many?

[@caseyatx1202]

@@kajeijlers9812 You might very well be right and I don't disagree with your take on it. But, I'd still like to see them include an onboard water tank. I think it would make for more efficient mopping and less water use. You can set how often it goes back to clean the mops in the app, so if the user wants it to clean the mops more often they could choose to do so, regardless of there being an onboard water tank or not.

[@Tothefloor]

I wish you would test the vacuums with different suction levels on carpet and hard floors. It’s tough to know what suction level to put my Roborock curve vacuum on for day-to-day pick up. I feel a ton of people could benefit from this data. PLEASE!

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

because of your skewed point system that rewards feature bloat over real world vacuuming performance.

[@Awackypenguin]

Would be nice if he split the categories into an objective performance category and a subjective category. Like, I don't really care how people rate the app - there's a ton of really stupid people who just can't figure out how to use a certain app and then rate 1 star.

[@Oho159]

bot account?

[@tannerfamily4152]

Man, 10000% this. Even including app reviews is just asinine to any score total

[@NNTorious]

​@@tannerfamily4152I agree to an extent. A bad app on a smart device can essentially leave it unusable. If the robot is buggy due to software he might not have the issue.

[@kajeijlers9812]

He splits the score out more per feature on his website. But feature bloat (eg swing out mops) do affect real world performance as it helps clean edges, so it's a double-edged sword.

[@TheHabbu]

I feel like your reviews are getting more and more subjective, it almost feels like you’re giving its shortcomings excuses. No comments on the absence of an onboard water tank at all? Or its efficiency in using water? And taking into consideration online reviews? So then what’s the point of yours? For example, the Eufy S1 pro was #2 and very quickly became #12, yet holds #1 and #2 in mopping and obstacle avoidance, doesn’t make any sense. It’s inferior version, the X10, is somehow a lot superior in your ratings. You dinged the S1 pro a lot for carpet performance, then you make the freo Z #2 yet it also has crappy carpet cleaning, but your analysis is “probably better in real life cause its struggling with your “objective” test”. Lots of people commented on the Z’s weird and inefficient navigation, which is consistent with your tests that you ironically didn’t trust. I’m honestly having a hard time trusting your rating systems or basing my decisions on ur reviews.

[@jonathannigra2332]

I really appreciate the in-depth reviews that you do. I have been searching for info on robot combos that allow you to change the direction that they go and force them to go with the grain of your floor. Do you by chance have a list of robots that do that?

[@TheBaciWorld]

How did it perform with the baseboard attachment? Is it effective? Gimmicky?

[@Kfeey]

As a former user, the baseboard duster was a nuisance. The fuzzy duster thing is held on by weak velcro, so as the robot’s cleaning going around the whole house the duster kept getting snagged and eventually fell off during every single cleaning job. Didn’t feel like it was cleaning the baseboard all that much either so I took it off after a while. I returned mine for other reasons but I didn’t really care for this feature.

[@caseyatx1202]

I really love the Freo Z Ultra and overall think it's the best robot vacuum I've used to date. That being said, I think the baseboard attachment is a bit gimmicky and not really all that effective. I think it's an interesting idea but not all that well implemented and probably not something most people would use all that often.

[@XilenceSR]

So me personally have a freo z and a curv sitting here with one of them needed to be returned. Which one would you return if you take into account that the curv is €300 more?

[@necromancia2101]

You said roborock qrevo curv better than this that's why I bought.. so is this better the narwhal Than curv then?

[@Kfeey]

I had a really bad experience with Narwal Freo Z Ultra. Mine constantly had trouble mapping and cleaning carpeted rooms. When it finally mapped correctly after a couple tries, 5 out of 10 times it would randomly vacuum just the entrance of every carpeted room and call it done. I just have ordinary low-medium pile carpet that no other robot vacs have had trouble cleaning. But Freo Z Ultra had so much trouble with it for some reason. I got so frustrated and when I contacted support they didn’t give me a proper solution and just kept repeating to use a different setting and that the robot is having trouble recognizing my carpet. And I was like… okay? I already know that but what’s my solution? I told them multiple times using a different setting or cleaning mode won’t fix the issue and they were basically telling me to just live with the faulty machine. I got so disappointed at the company and returned it right away. I’m using the Curv now and it’s good enough. I do miss the incomparable obstacle avoidance on the Freo Z Ultra but what good is it if the robot can’t even clean properly on a daily basis & the company isn’t there to support you when things go wrong. I’m glad I returned mine.

[@LokiDaFerret]

@@Kfeey sounds like the Z is so good at avoiding obstacles It recognises your carpet as being an obstacle. I can make the perfect obstacle avoidance robot as well... I'll just let it sit on the dock. 🤣😂

[@caseyatx1202]

Did you try changing the setting to vacuum first then mop? Curious if that might have worked but I agree with you that something wasn't right with your unit. I definitely would have returned it and exchanged it for another one just to see if the new one worked correctly.

[@Kfeey]

@@caseyatx1202 yes, I mostly ran it on the vac then mop option because I didn’t want it to drag wet mops over the carpets although it can lift the mops. I’ve tried other settings and different cleaning modes like the freo mind mode/regular cleaning mode/individual room cleaning/area cleaning etc. & even tried factory resetting. Nothing has permanently fixed it. Not sure if mine was faulty for sure but I wouldn’t have minded at all if they said that didn’t seem normal and they’d exchange it for a new one. Instead, they said “it looks like the robot’s not recognizing your carpets, so whenever that happens just clean using other settings”. And this wasn’t just a one time convo. It went on for a while back and forth between me, the customer service, and the tech team. And that was the final (and a repeated) answer I received when the agent got back to me after discussing this issue with their tech team even after I told them that changing the settings didn’t fix the issue. I got tired and just returned it. I shouldn’t have to use a vacuum cleaner with a known issue expecting it to work on a few occasions trying my luck with different settings as they suggest. So it’s more that I lost trust in the company than anything else and I didn’t have the energy to give it another try by the time. Freo Z Ultra is a really appealing choice though and that’s why I got mine in the first place, but it just didn’t work for me.

[@caseyatx1202]

@@Kfeey Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with your Freo Z and the customer service from Narwal. That's definitely frustrating but also one reason I always buy my vacuums from Amazon. There return policy is much more consumer friendly if anything goes wrong or you just end up not liking it. Hope you're enjoying your Qrevo Curv!

[@usnoozeyuloosey]

I would love you to include whether the phone apps have trackers and whether they need an account. Having yiur entire house mapped, just for someone else to own your home blueprints isnt great to have.For example the Narwhal app contains a tracker from Amplitude thats asks for Geo location. So not only does some have my hous blueprints but also know where i live. User accounts just combine that data and now they have my first and last name and probably date of birth. I think it would be a great addition.

[@fZionists78]

If they have WiFi, they are selling everything it sees with cameras, hears with microphone, and digital mapping. So yes, basically all of them with cameras are selling your data.

[@fZionists78]

Data/privacy.

[@Jesus_is_Lord323]

Hi, I'm looking to find a goof robot vacuum as a Christmas present. But i got that broke college student budget lol... 😅 So what's the best under $200 one for carpet and pets? Thank you! Your videos have been helpful

[@kennethschoen7796]

Please dont make online ratings a part of your score! Yhe reason people look for channels like Vacuum wars and other review channels is that you are objective reviewers. You dont want to like yhe new product you spent personal money on which skews your review. Alot of people go rate something a lerfect 5 stars 20 minutes after they buy it. Alot of people only leave a review when they encounter a problem. This is why i never trust customer reviews and always look for a review from a yhird party.

[@Girugi]

Video Idea/request: Please make a video that compares the quality of offbrand replacement parts like brushes, filters and bags. For roomba the official brushes are 5 times the price. I wonder what it is I get for that 5x price. I assume other brands are similar.

[@Sailor_Zeb]

@vacuumWars I've asked 3 different KZbinrs and still haven't got an answer. So I'll try here as well. Does it lift the mopping pads when returning to the station after mopping/cleaning?

[@XilenceSR]

Yes it does. Source: am owner.

[@cabot100]

Information about this can be found on Narwal's website.

[@caseyatx1202]

Owner here and yes it does.

[@emrancirikovic6080]

could you do a review about the shark nv702

[@adriannasyraf3534]

is there any vacuum bots without mop feature but has auto empty station?

[@kajeijlers9812]

Many. Roomba for example has a few (I don't like them)

[@MohdRadhwan]

Eureka E10s

[@xeon2k8]

roborock q5 pro, or q8, dreame d10, eufy c20

[@needlesswaif1773]

nice robot

[@VacuumWars]

We thought so too!

[@MrFowl]

Still waiting for the stair climbing vacuum

[@fZionists78]

I was interested until I heard about the cameras. But then it seems to work better, minus obstacle avoidance, with the cameras covered.

[@Alex_TR1713]

Why you dont show the cons of it?

[@mikehapimen7250]

Thank you for making this video.

[@VacuumWars]

You're very welcome! Glad you found it helpful.

[@Mecknificent]

Bro these are feisty comments. Thanks for another good review. Can things be criticized? Sure. But this is another level of mean and it feels intentional. Maybe some other companies don't like this robot getting good press? 🧐🧐. Either way, thank you vacuum wars for another good video

[@caseyatx1202]

I was tinkling the same thing. It's almost like the eufy and Roborock super fans came out in force. Or maybe a lot of people just really don't like Narwal? Not sure what's happening here but I agree with most of the points made in the reviews and love my Freo Z.

[@mauricelinton5867]

Did you mention that this was not a high end vacuum 😳 what is higher end?

[@CharredChar]

Can you please switch to using Mean numbers instead of Average? This review should be an example of how averages don't really help especially as newer vacuums, even on the lower end, come out with better designs. It gets to the point where *everything* becomes "above average" and means nothing.

[@Bushwacked487]

“Better than average” tells us nothing. Please stop using that.

[@kajeijlers9812]

What else would you compare it against?

[@Bushwacked487]

@ I’d show a graph with the best few robot scores and a few other robots in its price class. If someone is shopping for a high end robot, they don’t care how it performs against some average that includes budget price robots.

[@elkapitan75]

​​@@Bushwacked487Then better start cracking with your own channel with all the graphs.... Sure it may not be good for you,but I also do my own research in addition to what I watch. If someone has that much money to buy high end robot then the small stuff doesn't matter.

[@MartinzW]

As a frequent watcher, it absolutely tells us how good it is. That said, I agree that graphs of different vacuums would be more useful.

[@blorby]

Just watch regularly and you’ll get it… don’t comment useless text…

[@suselew]

I love this channel, but frankly, I'm getting sick of robot vacuum reviews. What about regular vacuums which include newer corded and cordless, spot cleaners and many other types you used to review before you have became obsessed with robots. Please give equal time to ALL types of vacuums. I never plan to buy a robot vacuum.

[@alexsummaria371]

Usually good review, but please review canisters I'm begging

[@kajeijlers9812]

I have the Dyson big ball. Love it. Expensive (well, Black Friday took a good chunk of) but absolutely worth it, only thing I regret is not getting it long ago.

[@LokiDaFerret]

Seems like a pretty crappy vacuum for a guy with mostly carpet.

[@caseyatx1202]

Works great on my carpet. As noted in the video, I think the performance in the review had more to do with the test platform than real world performance.

[@Tradetrade620]

Can never trust these shills...

[@TheBubbleMaker3000]

First

[@VacuumWars]

First! 🥇🙌🏼

[@deuceswild6857]

Major cons - no swing out mop pad and no onboard water tank!

[@caseyatx1202]

Cons yes, but I would argue more minor than major. Would I prefer an extending mop and onboard water tank? Yes, but that doesn't keep the Freo Z from being the overall best robot vacuum I've ever used.