Verdict: Narwal Freo Z Ultra
Our editorial rating is based on product testing.
- strong suction power of 12,000 Pa
- great mopping thanks to two rotating mops with adjustable pressing force
- AI features like smart obstacle detection, contamination level detection, and floor streak/spot detection
- manual control of the robot’s movement with video and two-way audio transmission
- well-thought-out automatic station with water heating, detergent dispensing, mop drying, and disinfecting the waste bag
- sometimes it avoids obstacles a bit too much, skipping the area right next to the obstacle
- it can get stuck in unusual spots where it actually has enough space
We’ve already tested a Narwal vacuum cleaner before, and we have to admit it pleasantly surprised us. It was the Freo X Plus model, which delivers great performance for a reasonable price. This time, we have the top model with a self-emptying and cleaning station: Narwal Freo Z Ultra.
In this review, we’ll look at the individual features and check the quality of both vacuuming and mopping. We won’t skip our measurements of battery life across different modes, and we’ll share our own hands-on experience from everyday use. What’s more, we’ll also show an unconventional full-fledged video call feature, during which you can control the vacuum cleaner.
Where to buy Narwal Freo Z Ultra?
You can find the Narwal Freo Z Ultra in our partner’s offer at Geekbuying.com with immediate shipping, plus a 2-year warranty! In your cart, don’t forget to use our handy discount coupon, which will reduce the sale price even further. Another big advantage is the fast availability from a nearby Polish warehouse. Your package will arrive within five business days!
For comparison, this vacuum cleaner is sold on the US market for as much as $1099, so the Geekbuying offer is more than just a bargain (source: us.narwal.com)! You can compare it with a similarly equipped Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, which has a price tag up to 1500 € (so the difference is up to 650 €) with local sellers—see for yourself.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra, 2-year warranty
TIPExpress delivery from a European warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local warehouse in Europe. Delivery from EU warehouses usually takes 2–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you won’t pay any additional fees — no customs duty and no VAT.
TIP15-day delivery via Aliexpress Standard Shipping
For this product, Aliexpress Standard Shipping is available with guaranteed delivery within 15 days. It’s the most reliable delivery method and, in most cases, it’s handled by a courier company. The 15-day delivery is something we actually tested.
When you order from a Chinese warehouse, AliExpress adds a customs fee to your cart of about €3,70 per order. When you receive the package, you don’t pay anything extra.
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. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no 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. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from the Czech warehouse with no customs duties and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Czech warehouse. Delivery from the Czech Republic usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs, no VAT.
Technical specifications
| Model | Narwal Freo Z Ultra |
|---|---|
| Weight | 15.94kg |
| Vacuum dimensions | 355 x 350 x 109.6mm |
| Station dimensions | 430.8 x 462 x 388mm |
| Suction power | 12,000 Pa |
| Navigation | a pair of cameras with AI chips; tri-laser structured light |
| Obstacle avoidance | yes |
| Mop | two rotating and pressing mops; 12N force; water heating (45 – 75°C) |
| Automatic mop lifting | yes, 12mm |
| Automatic station | 2.5L dust bag |
| 5L clean water tank | |
| 4.5L dirty water tank | |
| mop washing and drying | |
| 120 days without maintenance | |
| Battery | 5200mAh |
| Noise level | station 71dB; vacuum 55 – 58dB |
Sample bundle
The courier from DPD delivered the Narwal Freo Z Ultra robotic vacuum cleaner to us in a large box measuring 49.5 x 45 x 65 cm, with a total weight of 21.2kg.
Inside, all components are placed in foam inserts shaped precisely according to the contours of each individual part. Everything is also wrapped in a protective film, and many sections are additionally protected with stickers—so the packaging quality is excellent. Right when you start unpacking, it’s clear the manufacturer put care into it, which gives a premium impression.
When it comes to the contents of the package, you’ll find plenty of accessories that aren’t a given. Besides the vacuum cleaner and the self-cleaning station, the manufacturer also includes a mopping cleaning solution, three side cloths with long fibers, an extra filter, a spare plastic dust container for the vacuum, and a dust bag for the automatic station.
Design and build quality
Even the quality of the build on the Narwal Freo X Plus was already very good, and the new model builds on that. We had the Narwal Freo Z Ultra available in gray, but it’s also sold in white. Its surface, just like the surface of the automatic station, is matte, yet some fingerprints are still visible.
The build quality is top-notch, and the design is, in our view, exceptionally well done. The vacuum isn’t in any way extravagant—instead, it keeps things simple and elegant.
Vacuum cleaner with a new side cloth
Robotic vacuums usually look the same and only differ in minor design details. At first glance, that isn’t the case here either, but if we take a closer look, we notice one interesting new feature. It’s a side brush with high-pile fibers that helps the vacuum wipe dust off the objects it comes into contact with—especially skirting boards around the perimeter of the room.
Another new feature is a small plastic container of an unusual shape for dirt in the vacuum. It’s removable, and the box even includes one extra replacement. It’s located under the top cover, which is magnetic.
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra has a pair of cameras placed at the front, along with LED lighting. The vacuum uses them when we run it in the dark.
On the bottom, you’ll find a pair of side brushes, the main rotating brush that doesn’t tangle up hair, and sensors to prevent falls down stairs. Another interesting part is two mopping units shaped like triangles with rounded edges. More on those later.
An improved automatic station
The manufacturer promises up to 120 days of maintenance-free operation thanks to its automatic station. It’s quite large, but for good reason. In its upper section, you’ll find two containers—one for clean water (5L) and the other for dirty water (4.5L). They’re hidden under the top lid.
Another removable cover is located at the front. Behind it, there’s a dust bag with a 2.5L capacity on the left side, while the right side is reserved for the cleaning solution. The manufacturer includes it in a specially shaped container that you simply insert into the automatic station.
The bottom section provides space for the vacuum cleaner itself. This is where it docks—not only to charge, but also to clean and refill with water. But not regular water. In this case, the water is heated by the automatic station, sterilized, and then the cleaning solution is dispensed automatically.
After mopping is finished, the mop cloths are cleaned in the automatic station and dried using warm air. There’s also disinfection of the dust bag. So this automatic station is truly packed with features. Personally, we’re especially curious about the quality of mopping, which we’ll cover in one of the next chapters.
Narwal Freo app
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra works with the Narwal Freo app, which you simply install on your smartphone. Pairing is quick and hassle-free, unlike the first Freo X Plus model, where we initially had issues with the app.
After successful pairing, you see the new vacuum right on the app’s home screen immediately after launching it. Even vacuuming or mopping can be started from this home screen using shortcuts called Shortcuts.
Before the first vacuuming, however, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra needs to map your spaces. After that, the map is shown on the main screen along with all the necessary settings to start vacuuming, mopping, or editing the map.
The app interface is clear and intuitive. Plus, it’s very well executed visually, so we’re happy with the app.
Top-notch map rendering thanks to the cameras
During the initial room mapping, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra doesn’t vacuum, it just quickly goes through all the rooms to create a map. We used it in a three-room apartment, which it covered in less than 10 minutes.
It displays the map slightly differently from other vacuums, so it doesn’t just show the places it can reach, but draws the entire apartment. It even automatically recognized the beds, sofa, carpets, and table, which also appeared on the map. Based on these elements, it also automatically names the rooms. It only didn’t recognize the kitchen.
For space scanning, it uses the latest Lidar 4.0 laser system, which in this case is also supplemented by a pair of cameras with AI chips. The cameras have a resolution of 1600 x 1200 px and a 136° viewing angle.
AI obstacle avoidance
As we already mentioned, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra has a pair of cameras, which are also supported by two AI chips that instantly process the data from the cameras. Thanks to them, the vacuum can immediately decide how to react.
The new model from Narwal can intelligently recognize more than 120 objects or obstacles, even as small as 5mm2. That means it also avoids cables, which many robotic vacuums struggle with and easily get tangled in the rotating brush.
It beautifully goes around obstacles, but unfortunately sometimes too much. Because of that, it happened that dirt right next to various and even larger objects, which it detected as obstacles, was skipped and left unvacuumed. For example, it detected a shoe rack with shoes like this, and left quite a lot of dirt from the shoes behind.
Obstacles are also shown on the map, which it additionally supplements with a photo from the cameras. However, for this feature you have to allow taking photos, since it sends them through the cloud.
In automatic mode, the Narwal Freo Z Ultra can recognize the type of dirt and adjust the suction power accordingly, or turn mopping on or off, and also regulate its pressure.
Modes and suction power
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra has a suction power of an incredible 12 000 Pa, which is clearly the highest so far among the robotic vacuums we’ve had the chance to test. Honestly, though, we must admit that there’s no real "wow effect" in cleaning quality, so we didn’t notice much difference in suction power between the Freo X Plus model, which had 7800 Pa, and this new product.
We have a standalone vacuuming mode with Quiet, Normal, Strong and Super Powerful levels. Next, we can choose whether we want to vacuum once, twice or even three times, and we can also pick a regular or dense path. In advanced settings, we can change the vacuuming sequence of individual rooms. But we can also leave everything to the vacuum, which in Freo Mind mode automatically adjusts both its power and vacuuming method based on the level of dirt.
There’s also a mopping mode with three moisture levels, where we also choose the number of cycles, the path type, or leave everything to the vacuum. Then come two combined modes: vacuuming and mopping at the same time, or vacuuming followed by mopping.
The last option lets us set all parameters separately for each room. Here we can even combine modes, so some rooms can be vacuumed only, others mopped as well, with different numbers of cycles or different path types.
During mopping, the vacuum returns to the automatic station every 10m2 to clean the mop cloths. Other settings offer every 8 or 12m2, or cleaning the mop after each room. Of course, we can also set their order.
Duration of individual modes and battery consumption
During testing, we tried almost all modes, so let’s look at at least a few examples. It vacuumed our mentioned apartment in normal mode in 37 minutes and used 18% battery, in Strong mode it was 19%, and the same applied in Quiet mode.
With a denser path and normal mode, the vacuuming time increased to 50 minutes and battery usage dropped by 26%. In the strongest mode, it was even 29%.
Vacuuming together with mopping in normal mode took 38 minutes and used 19% battery. Every action of the vacuum is nicely recorded in the history.
Vacuuming and mopping quality
As with other robotic vacuum cleaners, we also prepared a demanding vacuuming quality test for this model. In the kitchen, we scattered oats and pieces of yellow peas on the floor and watched how the vacuum handles such messes.
We chose the highest suction mode with denser cleaning passes, and right away it managed to pick up the dirt almost perfectly. Only 2 – 3 pieces of oats remained on the floor, which the side brushes pushed into the area where the vacuum had already cleaned earlier.
We have particularly high expectations from mopping, since there are two mops that rotate and also get a maximum pressing force of 12N applied to them. What’s more, the vacuum should be able to recognize dried-on dirt by itself, slow down on it or even stop completely, so it can remove such messes.
That evening, we spilled water on the floor with food coloring, with cocoa, and let it dry overnight. In the morning, when the liquids had dried and formed stains, we sent the vacuum to mop up this dirt in the highest mopping mode with denser cleaning passes.
As you can see in the photo, the vacuum handled these stains very well. While going over the tiles in these spots, it visibly slowed down. Even though there was one small stain left on the floor and a few streaks, we rate the mopping performance of the Narwal Freo Z Ultra as excellent.
It definitely mops the floor much better than vacuum cleaners that have only a standard or vibrating mop. With a similar rotating mop, we tested, for example, Ultenic MC1, which, however, couldn’t deal with such stains.
Map adjustment
The basic map view is 2D, with room names, carpets, and furniture that the vacuum managed to recognize. In the map editing section, we can switch to a color view, where each room has a different color, and there’s also a 3D view available.
In the 3D view, though, some partitions were missing for us somehow, and the placement of the furniture isn’t quite accurate. Through map editing, we can divide or connect rooms according to our own preferences, or even rename them (including with our own name with diacritics).
You can also add furniture to the map, select the floor type, or adjust carpet settings. The vacuum can avoid a carpet, clean it normally by vacuuming, boost its performance, or it can pass over it to move into another part of the room, but without vacuuming it.
There are also so-called no-go zones and one interesting option. On the map, we can mark places that are especially dirty, and we want the vacuum to clean them more thoroughly. However, this feature should also work automatically, and the vacuum should be able to identify such areas on its own.
An interesting extra bonus
Since the Narwal Freo Z Ultra has cameras, the manufacturer decided to use them in a very interesting way, similar to what we know from security cameras. Through the vacuum, you can make a call with two-way audio transmission and an image from the vacuum’s cameras. It’s almost a full-fledged video call.
The manufacturer naturally combined it with vacuuming as well. So we can conveniently control the robot vacuum remotely using directional buttons forward/back and right/left, and within that you can also see the image. If you aren’t at home, you can use the vacuum to check your apartment or see what the kids are doing if they’re home alone.
Settings
Besides the usual suction settings, mopping levels, or map adjustments, you’ll also find several other interesting settings here. One of them is enabling automatic recognition of more heavily soiled areas, when the vacuum cleans those spots more thoroughly.
Another option is more precise cleaning of room corners and edges, and there’s also a child lock, a quiet mode, or automatic shut-off of the vacuum after a longer period of inactivity.
You’ll also find a separate section dedicated to the automatic station. Here, we can enable automatic adding of cleaning solution, drying and disinfecting the dust bag, the drying level, intelligent water heating for mopping, or a quiet or strong dust suction mode from the vacuum into the bag.
You also get a display of the automatic station status, showing the progress of drying, disinfection, and the condition of individual components such as the filters or the dust bag.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra: Final review
The Narwal Freo Z Ultra robotic vacuum cleaner is among the most advanced vacuums on the market. It impresses with an exceptionally high suction power of up to 12,000 Pa, as well as dual rotating mops with automatic pressure adjustment.
The robot is also packed with smart features. With a pair of cameras equipped with AI chips, it can recognize different obstacles—ones it can even take photos of. It then displays the photo on the map during cleaning. It similarly detects dirt, allowing it to automatically adjust the suction or mopping level.
The vacuum also has an innovative side high-pile cloth that lets you wipe, for example, along baseboards. There’s also an interesting two-way audio call feature with a view from the vacuum’s cameras—so you can talk to someone through the vacuum, much like via a security camera.
Narwal Freo Z Ultra, 2-year warranty
TIPExpress delivery from a European warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local warehouse in Europe. Delivery from EU warehouses usually takes 2–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you won’t pay any additional fees — no customs duty and no VAT.
TIP15-day delivery via Aliexpress Standard Shipping
For this product, Aliexpress Standard Shipping is available with guaranteed delivery within 15 days. It’s the most reliable delivery method and, in most cases, it’s handled by a courier company. The 15-day delivery is something we actually tested.
When you order from a Chinese warehouse, AliExpress adds a customs fee to your cart of about €3,70 per order. When you receive the package, you don’t pay anything extra.
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. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no 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. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from the Czech warehouse with no customs duties and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Czech warehouse. Delivery from the Czech Republic usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs, no VAT.
We also appreciate the high-quality mopping, automatic dispensing of water and cleaning solution, as well as mop washing and drying, and disinfecting the dust bag. Narwal Freo Z Ultra is a truly well-thought-out robotic vacuum cleaner.
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