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Narwal Freo Z Ultra Review: Complete + Why it Won

The Narwal Freo Z Ultra Robot Vacuum, Narwalโ€™s latest flagship model, introduces game-changing innovations that earned it two major Vacuum Wars awards in late 2024 and rocketed it to the top five in our Best Robot Vacuums list. After purchasing the device and conducting extensive evaluations over the past few weeks, weโ€™re excited to share its pros and cons in this Narwal Freo Z Ultra Review. This advanced robot vacuum and mop combo features a fully equipped auto-empty station that not only handles debris but also washes and dries its mop pads. And despite its premium features, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra is reasonably priced for a flagship model of this caliber.

Narwal Freo Z


The Narwal Freo Z Ultra robot vacuum mop combo features advanced AI navigation and powerful cleaning. Equipped with dual HD cameras and dual-chip AI, it identifies and avoids over 120 obstacle types for safe cleaning. Its 12,000Pa suction handles dirt and pet hair; EdgeSwing cleans to walls, and a module tackles baseboard dust. Dual rotating mop heads apply 1.2โ€ฏkg force at 180โ€ฏRPM to remove stubborn stains. The docking station offers hands-free use, with self-cleaning and drying for mops, keeping it hygienic for up to 120 days. See additional info

$1,499.99

Price as of April 5, 2025

Auto Empty Station: Self Empties Debris | Washes Mop Pad | Washes Mop Pad with Hot Water | Dries Mop Pad | Dries Mop Pad with Heated Air| Self Cleaning | Ionized Water |

Mopping: Lifts Mop Pads on Carpets

Hardware: 30mm Threshold Crossing | Removes Hair from Brush Roll | Baseboard Cleaning

Mapping / Navigation: Multi Level Maps | Virtual Barriers and No Go Zones

Obstacle Avoidance: 120 Objects Recognized

Pet Features: Live Video Monitoring | Pet Checkup or Similar

ScoresNarwal Freo ZAverage Robot Vacuum Tested
Vacuum Wars Overall4.07

2.84

Features3.94

3.58

Mopping Performance3.82

3.14

Obstacle Avoidance4.9

3.56

Pet4.9

2.85

Navigation3.51

3.31

Battery2.28

2.62

Performance3.49

3.59

Official Battery Life: 210 MinutesNavigation Type: Spinning Lidar
Official Suction Power: 12000 PaDust Bin Size: 500ml
Obstacle Avoidance Type: Dual CamerasObjects Recognized: 120
Multi Level Maps: YVirtual Barriers: Y
Detergent Capacity: 580mlDisposable Bag: 2.5L

Features Overview

Robot Hardware

As far as hardware on the robot, it has:

  • A top-mounted LiDAR smart navigation system.
  • Front-mounted obstacle avoidance sensors.
  • Two side brushes.
  • A single brush roller, which is tapered and unconnected at one end for better pet hair management.
  • A removable baseboard brush on the sideโ€”something that we haven’t seen before but is a wonderful idea.
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra robot vacuum and mop combo is displayed alongside its accessories, user manual, and packaging. The base station, robot unit, and additional components are arranged on a white surface with a pink gradient background.
Everything that comes with the Narwal Freo Z Ultra. ยฉVacuum Wars

Advanced Auto-Empty Station

The new auto-empty station is very advanced. It’s one of the areas that’s a major upgrade from their previous version, the Narwal Freo X Ultra. The Freo X didn’t have a way to empty the robot’s dustbin into a disposable bag at the station, which was one of the reasons that prevented us from recommending it. But that’s changed with the Freo Z, and it now empties the robot’s dustbin into a 2.5 L disposable bag, which will last 120 days before needing to be changed.

A person holds a disposable dust bag for the Narwal Freo Z Ultra, showing its material and attachment point.
A look at the Freo Z Ultraโ€™s self-emptying dust bag. ยฉVacuum Wars

The new station also automatically washes the robot’s mop pads, dries the mop pads, and refills the mop tanks with either water only or water and proprietary Narwal detergent.

A person holds a Narwal specially formulated floor cleaner container in front of the Freo Z Ultra base station and robot vacuum.
Narwalโ€™s floor cleaner cartridge for the Freo Z Ultra. ยฉVacuum Wars

Additionally, it has a rare water ionizing feature, which supposedly makes the water better for sanitizing. It’s also a self-cleaning station, which reduces the amount of manual cleaning you will need to do, though it does have a removable tray for that purpose.

A person holds the transparent removable tray from the Narwal Freo Z Ultraโ€™s base station, showcasing its drainage design.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra’s removable tray. ยฉVacuum Wars

Exceptional Mopping Ability

Its actual mopping ability was another major pro. It uses two spinning mop pads, which are oddly shaped to reduce missed spots down the middle.

A close-up view of the Freo Z Ultraโ€™s underside, showing dual spinning mop pads and wheels.
The underside of the Narwal Freo Z Ultra with dual mop pads. ยฉVacuum Wars

The mop pads spin at 180 RPM and have above-average downward pressure at 1.2 kg or 2.6 lb of force.

A test result graphic displaying the Narwal Freo Z Ultraโ€™s mop pad pressure measurement of 1.2 kg.
Mop pad pressure evaluation results for the Freo Z Ultra. ยฉVacuum Wars

All of that led to it being well above average with mopping ability. For example, in the dried-stain mopping evaluation, it was even better than electric mops like the Bissell CrossWave.

A test result comparison showing the Narwal Freo Z Ultra and Bissell Crosswave Pet Proโ€™s performance on dried-on stains, with scores of 106 and 78, respectively. The average score is 97.
Mopping assessment results comparing the Narwal Freo Z Ultra and Bissell Crosswave. ยฉVacuum Wars

It also has some useful mopping features, such as adjustable water levels and clean along floor direction, where you can set the direction that your floor panels lay in the app to prevent streaking. Its mop pads can automatically lift up 12 mm when it senses carpets, which allows the robot to vacuum and mop houses with a mixture of hard floors and carpets in the same run. This makes it much more efficient than robots that don’t have that feature.

The Freo Z Ultra robot vacuum approaches a carpeted area, demonstrating its mop-lifting feature to prevent wetting.
Smart mop-lifting prevents carpets from getting wet. ยฉVacuum Wars

New Obstacle Avoidance System

One of the biggest pros with the Narwal Freo Z, though, is its new obstacle avoidance system, which is another area where Narwal made major improvements from their previous version. It uses a rare dual-camera system with two advanced microchips. It’s also light-assisted for dark area cleaning.

A close-up of the Narwal Freo Z Ultraโ€™s front-facing TwinAI Dodge obstacle avoidance system, featuring dual cameras and an LED sensor.
A dual camera system enhances the Freo Z Ultraโ€™s obstacle recognition. ยฉVacuum Wars

It has 120 objects pre-programmed for recognition, which is higher than average, and all of that resulted in the best obstacle avoidance score we’ve seen so farโ€”not quite perfect, but very close.

The Narwal Freo Z Ultra navigates around objects in a living room, identifying toy bears, wallets, and sneakers with AI obstacle detection.
AI-powered obstacle recognition in action. ยฉVacuum Wars
A test result graphic showing the Narwal Freo Z Ultraโ€™s obstacle avoidance performance, scoring 23/24 compared to an average score of 17.
The Freo Z Ultra avoids obstacles with near-perfect accuracy. ยฉVacuum Wars

Efficient Navigation and Battery Life

It was overall very smart with general navigation and mapping as well. Its navigation efficiency was higher than average in our evaluations. It mapped our floor plan in just under 5 minutes, and it had a 41-minute vacuum and mop time, which is shorter than average with excellent coverage.

Its battery life was very good as well. Although Narwal hasn’t published an official battery life number that we’ve seen, its battery efficiency in our evaluationsโ€”where we run it on various power settings on a fixed floor planโ€”was significantly higher than average. We calculated its square feet per charge at around 1,236, which is also above average. It has a fast charging feature as well, which is somewhat rare and usually only seen on higher-end robot vacuums.

A test result graphic showing the Narwal Freo Z Ultra cleaning 1,236 square feet per charge compared to an average of 1,019 square feet.
Freo Z Ultra covers 1,236 sq. ft. per full charge. ยฉVacuum Wars
A test result graphic comparing battery efficiency, showing the Narwal Freo Z Ultra lasting 1.50 minutes per battery percentage versus an average of 1.32 minutes.
Battery efficiency evaluation results for the Freo Z Ultra. ยฉVacuum Wars

Superior Cleaning Performance

Another pro is that it was good where it really counts, which is with cleaning performance.

Sweeping and Vacuuming โ€“ Its general sweeping ability on hard floors and carpets was great across the board. It was able to pick up all the types and sizes of debris we evaluated it with nearly perfectly.

The Narwal Freo Z Ultra navigates across a carpeted test platform designed to measure its vacuuming effectiveness.
Assessing the Freo Z Ultraโ€™s carpet cleaning power. ยฉVacuum Wars
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra is going through a sweeping test on a hard floor test platform with scattered debris.
Passed the hard floor sweeping evaluation. ยฉVacuum Wars

Pet Hair Pickup โ€“ One area where this really showed up was with our new pet features assessment. For example, it was above average with a 2.5-inch pet hair pickup evaluation on carpet, and its uniquely designed main brush roll was good at resisting longer hair tangles as well.

For example, we did not see any tangles with the 7-inch hair evaluation, where the average amount of tangled hair on that assessment is currently 41%.

A test result graphic showing the Narwal Freo Z Ultra experiencing 0% hair tangling, compared to an average of 41% tangling in similar vacuums.
Zero hair tangles in the 7โ€ hair tangle evaluation. ยฉVacuum Wars

Crevice Cleaning – Its crevice pickup score was right about the average amount, and it had slightly above-average suction power in our bench evaluations.

A test result graphic comparing the suction power of the Narwal Freo Z Ultra at max power, showing 0.95 kPa compared to an average of 0.74 kPa.
Outperforms the competition in the max power suction assessment. ยฉVacuum Wars

Impressive App Features

Its app was a big pro. We think it is one of the better apps out there, and it’s especially impressive considering that Narwal is a newer company. Its score on the app stores is lower than average, which is probably more reflective of older versions of the app. It has most of the features you would see on higher-end robot vacuum apps, such as multi-level maps, individual room settings, lots of scheduling variability, the ability to modify bin behaviors, virtual barriers, zone cleaning, and 3D mapping.

It even has some of the more advanced pet features like video calling and Pet Checkup, where it will go look for your pets without the vacuum on to make sure they’re okay.

A close-up of a hand interacting with the Narwal Freo Z Ultra's mobile app, showing a completed vacuuming task with detailed cleaning statistics.
Track and customize your cleaning with the Freo Z Ultra app. ยฉVacuum Wars

Cons

Below-Average Carpet Deep Clean

Moving on to the cons, there wasn’t all that much to report, but there were a few things. For example, the Narwal Freo Z scored significantly below average with our carpet deep clean evaluation. This assessment measures how well a robot vacuum picks up deeply embedded debris like sand from medium-pile carpets, and in this case, it only achieved 55%. However, we don’t think this result is entirely reflective of its real-world performance.

For some reason, Narwal robots, in general, have proven particularly challenging to evaluate in our lab environment. They just don’t seem to handle enclosed spaces well, often acting unpredictably during these kinds of evaluations. We ran this assessment multiple times, but the Freo Z never completed a normal, consistent run, so it probably would do better than 55% in normal conditions.

The Narwal Freo Z Ultra is undergoing a deep clean test on a carpeted surface within a controlled test environment.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra struggled with our carpet deep clean evaluation. ยฉVacuum Wars

Evaluation Challenges in the Lab Environment

Another example of this was when we were assessing its mopping ability, where we got extremely erratic behaviors that kept invalidating the mopping results. The only way we could resolve it was by covering the obstacle avoidance cameras because there was no way to turn off its obstacle avoidance in the app like we normally do. These kinds of things really frustrate people trying to review and evaluate robot vacuums, but the average person probably would never notice it.

A Narwal Freo Z Ultra robotic vacuum navigating a lab test with its cameras covered, attempting to clean up red liquid spills on a white surface.
Assessing the Freo Z Ultraโ€™s mopping abilityโ€”cameras covered for a controlled experiment. ยฉVacuum Wars

Below-Average Airflow

Another thing was that it had below-average airflow in our evaluations, but considering it had above-average suction, it was sort of a draw.

A performance comparison chart displaying the airflow test results for the Narwal Freo Z Ultra at max power, showing 13.3 CFM against an average of 16 CFM.
Airflow evaluation results for the Narwal Freo Z Ultra. ยฉVacuum Wars

Newness of the Product

The main thing we could warn consumers about with the Narwal Freo Z, though, is not to do with its performance, abilities, or features but rather the fact that it is new. That being said, Narwal’s online reviews are surprisingly good overall, and because customer experience is so important, we’ve started to take those online reviews into account when ranking products on the Vacuum Wars Top 20 Robot Vacuum list. This way, if something is wrong with a product and reviews tank, it starts to go lower in the rankings, and if people like it, it starts to go higher.

A Narwal Freo Z Ultra robot vacuum on a hardwood floor.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra’s online reviews are surprisingly good for a new release. ยฉVacuum Wars

Narwal Freo Z Ultra Review: Conclusion and Recommendation

On paper and in practice, we were extremely impressed with the Narwal Freo Z. In fact, it received two major titles in 2024: Best Obstacle Avoidance and Best for Pets. It did great with the basics of sweeping hard floors and carpets and mopping ability. It also has a ton of features, including some we’ve never seen before, and its price is competitive, making it an extremely solid choice.

$1,499.99

 

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Home โ€ข Narwal Reviews โ€ข Narwal Freo Z Ultra Review: Complete + Why it Won

Christopher White

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Christopher White CEO
Christopher White is the CEO of Vacuum Wars, the premier YouTube channel dedicated to vacuum cleaner reviews. Over the past eight years, Vacuum Wars has become a trusted resource, meticulously reviewing hundreds of robot vacuums, cordless vacuums, carpet cleaners, and various floor care products. Known for their comprehensive in-house testing, Vacuum Wars has built one of the most extensive databases of vacuum cleaner metrics available. Under Christopherโ€™s leadership, the channel has maintained a strict no-sponsorship policy, ensuring that all reviews remain unbiased and trustworthy. This dedication to integrity has garnered a loyal following of over 300,000 subscribers who rely on their expert advice. Christopher is also a recognized authority on robot vacuums, boasting one of the largest private collections of these devices worldwide. Learn more.

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