Narwal Freo X Plus Review
Our editorial rating is based on product testing.
- high build quality and an elegant design
- exceptionally high suction power up to 7800 Pa
- innovative main rotating brush that prevents tangled hair from wrapping around
- can use disposable dust bags instead of a plastic dust bin
- intuitive app with plenty of settings
- the obstacle-avoidance system works extremely well
- a standard mopping feature that can’t handle dry, hardened stains
- issues with the newest version of the app forced us to use an older version from an unofficial source
The Narwal brand isn’t among the big and well-known players in our robot vacuum market. Even so, it offers very interesting robot vacuums equipped with advanced technologies. We tested the new model, Narwal Freo X Plus.
In our detailed review, we’ll look at the equipment of this model, test the vacuuming and mopping quality, and overall evaluate the vacuum’s performance, the app, and other features.
Where to buy the Narwal Freo X Plus?
The tech-packed Narwal Freo X Plus robotic vacuum is available at Geekbuying. It’s stocked in the EU warehouse, which means very fast delivery to you within 5 working days with no extra fees. The Ultra higher model is also available.
When you order the Narwal Freo X Plus vacuum, you’ll get as a free gift compatible dust bags.
Important: On Geekbuying, never buy via the app, otherwise you’ll lose our VIP support!
Narwal Freo X Plus / Freo X Ultra
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
Technical specifications
| Vacuum dimensions | 275 x 118 x 137 mm |
| Weight | 4.25 kg |
| Suction power | 7 800 Pa |
| Max. noise level | 58 dB |
| Battery | 5000 mAh / 72 Ah |
| Runtime on one charge (max) | 210 minutes |
| Main rotating brush | Zero-tangling Floating Brush |
| Side brushes | 2 |
| Dust storage time without emptying | 49 days / 7 weeks |
| Dust compression | Double |
| Corner cleaning | Yes |
| Water tank capacity | 280 ml |
| Maximum mopping pressure | 6 N |
| Mops | Static mop |
| Water management | 4-even wetting of the mop via tubes |
| Automatic mop lifting | 9 mm |
| Boosted suction power | Yes |
| Carpet detection | ✓ |
| Obstacle avoidance | ✓ |
| Tri-Laser sensors | ✓ |
| Storing multiple maps | ✓ |
| Zone cleaning | ✓ |
| Voice control | ✓ |
| 3D maps | Yes |
| App | Narwal Freo |
| Color | White |
| Automatic recharging | ✓ |
| WiFi | ✓ |
| Bluetooth | BLE 4.2 |
| Washable dust tank | ✓ |
| Disposable bag system | ✓ |
| HEPA filter | ✓ |
Packaging contents & quality
We received the Narwal Freo X Plus robotic vacuum from Geekbuying via SPS courier in a fairly compact box with a total weight of 8.13 kg. As we’ve come to expect with robotic vacuums, this model also comes in so-called double packaging.
The individual components are placed inside the box in a well-organized way to make the packaging as compact as possible. In molded cardboard, you’ll find not only the vacuum but also a transparent mat, a power cable, the manual, a pair of side brushes, three mopping cloths, a pair of bags with a filter, and a charging station.
The packaging is literally exemplary. This is exactly how we imagine high-quality robot vacuum packaging. In terms of accessories too, the manufacturer impressed us with several bonuses, such as the mentioned bags and mopping cloths.
Design and build quality
The Narwal Freo X Plus is a very successful model design-wise. At first glance, it leaves a quality impression, and nothing changes even after a closer inspection. The plastics are high quality, and shiny stainless-steel-looking elements complete the overall design.
At first glance, it looks like a traditional construction with a laser system protruding from the center of the upper part. We appreciate the detailed description of the vacuum and its components in the included user manual.
On the top side, besides the laser system, you’ll only find a pair of buttons. They are used to return home and to pause or restart the vacuum.
Around the perimeter there are bumpers, corner sensors, and one large front sensor that helps with obstacle avoidance. On the bottom side, there are wheels, two side brushes, drop-off sensors for stairs, the main rotating brush, and the mopping module.
Separate dust bins and waste bags
Most robotic vacuum cleaners nowadays have combined dust and water tanks, and for some Roborock models you’ll find a separate water tank in the back section.
It’s similar with the new model from Narwal, which has separate containers, but both are located under the top magnetic cover of the entire vacuum.
According to Geekbuying, the dust container has a capacity of up to 1L, which seems a bit high to us. The manufacturer itself doesn’t state this figure on its website. The water tank can hold 280 ml.
An interesting feature of this robotic vacuum is the ability to swap the dust container for disposable bags. In the box, you’ll find 2 of them, and they also include a filter that comes as part of each bag together with a scent. You simply insert the filter into the bag to eliminate unwanted odors, since one bag should be enough for up to 7 weeks.
Then you just remove the full bag and throw it in the bin. This option is likely to be especially appreciated by people with dust allergies, because this way you don’t come into contact with dust the way you would when emptying a container. Currently, a set of six original bags costs almost 20 EUR on Geekbuying. There are also better deals on AliExpress.
First power-on and pairing with your smartphone
The Narwal Freo X Plus robotic vacuum works with the Narwal Freo app, which you can find in the Google Play or AppStore. However, with this app (version 2.5.1) we had issues: after opening it, we only saw the splash screen with the brand logo. It didn’t work correctly on other smartphones either, so we switched to an older version (2.4.39) from APK Pure. That one worked without problems.
We started the pairing process by selecting the model from the set of three available. Then the smartphone searched for the vacuum, we chose our home WiFi network, and the rest ran automatically.
Next comes several setup steps, during which the app asks whether you have stairs in your home, whether you’ve installed a pad under the vacuum station dock, or whether you have carpets at home.
The first step before actually vacuuming is mapping the rooms. This process is very fast, because the vacuum cleaner just takes a quick look into each room to create an initial map. In our case it took in a 3-bedroom apartment 6 minutes.
App environment
In the app, the Narwal Freo X Plus is labeled BX1 and its home screen looks similar to other manufacturers. The biggest part is the room map, which the app automatically splits into rooms. This partition isn’t quite ideal, so it required a few small adjustments.
The map also shows the battery percentage, current status, and a few buttons. Here you’ll find, for example, switching to 3D view, a map-editing mode, and several cleaning options.
These options include:
- vacuuming and mopping at the same time
- vacuuming and then mopping
- vacuuming
- mopping
- custom
In its own mode, you can choose from several options for each room separately. Here we select one of the modes mentioned above, the number of repeats (1 or 2), suction power, water level, and the vacuum’s route type.
You can also find a button to start cleaning, a history section, a scheduler, and general settings. There are really many options, but the app is intuitive and the design is very well done.
High suction power and a well-thought-out rotating brush
The Narwal Freo X Plus has an exceptionally high suction power of up to 7800 Pa — for its price category, that’s a beast of a performance. The manufacturer claims up to 99-percent dirt removal with power that’s 260 % higher compared to other vacuums in the entry-level class.
Another great detail is the unique rotating brush that doesn’t catch hair. With many vacuum cleaners, hair simply wraps around it, and to remove it we have to use scissors or a bundled knife.
Unlike most vacuum cleaners, the Narwal Freo X Plus has its rotating brush mounted only on one end, so the wrapped hair should slide off from the other end and move into the dirt container.
This system really works, and we found absolutely no hair on the rotating brush—unlike other vacuum cleaners we’ve tested recently.
Moreover, we really appreciate the low noise level of this vacuum. Even at the highest power it is not overly loud. In quiet mode we measured 53 dB, in normal mode approximately the same, in strong mode 56 – 57 dB, and at the highest setting it was 60 dB.
Suction performance quality and available modes
The Narwal Freo X Plus offers a feature called Freo Advice, which handles automatic adjustment of suction power. If we turn this feature off, we can choose from four levels – Quiet, Normal, Strong and Super Powerful.
You can also choose the number of cycles (1 or 2) and between the standard vacuum route or a more thorough one. In that mode, there are so-called “es” that make the vacuuming denser, so it cleans more thoroughly. Other settings include the so-called Edge mode, where the vacuum turns in the corners of rooms to clean them better.
Based on the parameters, we had high expectations for the suction performance, so let’s see how it did in our test. In the kitchen floor, we also scattered coffee, red lentils, and oatmeal for this one.
We chose to clean the room in the highest mode with a more thorough route and Edge mode enabled. Right on the first pass, it managed to pick up almost all the dirt, except for 2 – 3 pieces of lentils that the side brushes shot onto an already cleaned area. This phenomenon could be seen with almost all vacuum cleaners, though. On the second run, it also picked up the remaining pieces.
Pressing mop head and mopping quality
A good sign is also the pressure mop with a force of 6 N, which is equivalent to roughly 0.6 kg of weight pressing on the floor. You’ll also like the automatic mop lift on carpets, plus the three cloths included in the box.
The app also offers an automatic mopping mode called Freo Advice, or three levels of cloth dampening in manual mode – Low, Normal, Wet mopping. As with vacuuming, you can choose either 1 or 2 cycles, as well as the route type or Edge mode.
We also tested the mopping quality ourselves. In the evening, we spilled water with cocoa and food coloring on the kitchen floor. In the morning, once the liquids dried, we had the vacuum cleaner mop up the stains in the highest mode with more thorough routes and Edge mode, similar to how it handled vacuuming.
Since this is an extremely demanding task for robot vacuums, we didn’t expect these stains to be removed. And that’s exactly what happened: after the first cycle, the stains were more or less just spread out. After the second and third cycles, the smaller stains disappeared, and the bigger one was slightly reduced.
Despite the pressurized mop, this force is too weak to remove dried stains. For normal mopping after vacuuming it’s enough, but for tougher tasks you’ll need to bring out a manual mop.
Obstacle avoidance and smooth vacuuming
Thanks to its triple sensor setup, the Narwal Freo X Plus can efficiently avoid unexpected obstacles. For example, if we suddenly stand in its path, it will smoothly go around us without stopping or hesitating. It works almost perfectly, exactly as we imagine it should.
Some other vacuum cleaners with similar functions first stop, turn around, and only then make it around us, while the Narwal Freo X Plus doesn’t hesitate at all.
Its overall operation is wonderfully smooth: it doesn’t get stuck and doesn’t wander unnecessarily. The routing algorithm and route planning work exceptionally well. It also handles carpets without any issues, automatically increasing performance on them. In terms of suction quality and the overall impression, it’s definitely one of the top vacuum cleaners.
During our testing, it only got stuck once—in a narrow spot between a built-in wardrobe and the bed, where we also had a children’s toy with a stand, which caused it to get stuck and unable to continue.
Map customization options and settings
As we already mentioned above, in the Narwal Freo app you can also customize the map. You can choose a monochrome or color map with highlighted carpets, room names, and furniture.
You also get standard customization options like splitting or combining rooms, naming them (including with diacritics), or creating no-go zones for mopping and vacuuming, either for both activities together or separately for each one.
You can also add furniture to the map and choose the type of flooring. For furniture, there are various options such as a bed of different types, dining tables, coffee tables, a TV cabinet, a nightstand, different wardrobes, sofas and an armchair, chairs, a sink, a toilet, or even a floor bean bag, a bed for a cat and a dog, or a piano.
The furniture is divided into categories, and there’s really quite a lot of it here. Compared to the Roborock app, which also offers this kind of option on higher models, the furniture selection here is significantly richer.
With carpets, you can choose what the vacuum should do when it encounters them. It can increase suction power, avoid the carpet, pass over it without vacuuming, or clean it the same way as a regular floor.
There’s also a cleaning history with weekly, monthly, or yearly charts, enabling anti-fall protection on stairs, Do Not Disturb mode, child lock, or increasing the fan speed when vacuuming at higher altitudes—plus more.
The app is really well thought out and offers a lot of different settings and customization.
Scheduling vacuuming and quick tasks
Vacuum scheduling is also well developed. Here you can plan vacuuming or mopping for a specific date and time, or set it to repeat automatically every day or every week at the selected time.
Of course, you can also customize operation and suction power individually for each room.
Quick predefined tasks are also interesting. Here you can define a specific task—for example, vacuuming and mopping the kitchen, which you’ll save under a chosen name. Then, if you want to vacuum and mop the kitchen, just start this task.
The mentioned feature is especially useful when you use the same settings repeatedly during cleaning. Instead of having to keep defining them on the vacuum’s main screen, you simply set everything up, save it under your own name, and you can start the task easily and quickly from there.
Runtime on a single charge
The battery in this vacuum is 5000 mAh, and according to the manufacturer it should be enough for 210 minutes of cleaning. When cleaning our 3-room apartment in automatic mode with the standard route, only 7 % of the battery was used, and cleaning lasted 36 minutes.
In strong mode and with the standard route, the battery dropped by 16 %, taking 39 minutes. In the highest mode, the battery capacity decreased by 26 % and cleaning lasted 42 minutes. In the same mode, but with the more thorough route, it was already 40 % battery and 48 minutes.
Charging from 20 % to 100 % takes only about 2 hours.
Narwal Freo X Plus: Final assessment
Narwal Freo X Plus was a model we weren’t familiar with, but it impressed us at first glance—not only with its solid build quality and stylish look, but also with its specs. It offers an exceptionally high suction power of up to 7800 Pa, plus advanced technologies that ensure smooth operation and obstacle avoidance.
The innovative main rotating brush technology ensures that hair doesn’t get wrapped around it. There’s also the option to use disposable bags instead of a plastic dust container. The app is great too—it has a modern design and is very clear and intuitive.
Narwal Freo X Plus is truly a very successful model. Negatives are hard to find, but the only weak spot is perhaps the standard mop, which doesn’t really surprise.
If our review convinced you to buy this great robot vacuum, take advantage of your partner Geekbuying’s offer, where you’ll also find great discount coupons.
Narwal Freo X Plus / Freo X Ultra
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Shipping from Poland usually takes 7-10 days and is handled by a courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
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