I finally found a robot vacuum that never tangles — and it's surprisingly affordable

If you're after one of the best robot vacuums, you can easily spend $1,000 plus, which might seem pricey for some consumers. And while there are plenty of affordable models, you might wonder whether they perform as well as their more expensive peers.

Narwal aims to make automatic vacuuming and mopping more affordable with its newest model: the Freo Pro, a lower-priced alternative to its flagship Freo X Ultra, which sells for just under $1,400.

If you're a pet parent, you'll be glad to know the Narwal Freo Pro is designed for households where long hair is a concern. The robot’s unique design is intended to sweep up long hairs effortlessly without clogging the main roller brush.

After several weeks of testing the Narwal Freo Pro on the dog hair, crumbs, and human hair lurking around my home, read on to find out whether this robot vacuum performs exactly as advertised.

Narwal Freo Proreview: Price and availability

The Narwal Freo Pro is a very affordable option compared to other robot vacuum/mop combos.

You can purchase the Narwal Freo Pro for $599 at Narwal’s website and on Amazon costing $699.The box contains the vacuum and base station, two auto-detangling side brushes, a zero-tangling floating roller brush, two mop pads, a disposable dust bag, a dustbin, and a dustbin filter.

You’ll also need to buy the cleaning tablets separately; those cost $12.99 for 24 tablets.

Narwal Freo Pro review: Design

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The Narwal Freo Pro arrived in a large box and was packed securely in styrofoam, which kept it safe during transit but isn’t a sustainable packing solution. I’d have preferred to see Narwal use a recyclable material like cardboard. Regardless, the styrofoam did its job, and the unit arrived in perfect condition.

The vacuum came in two pieces: the robot vacuum and the large docking station. At 17 inches tall, 15.5 inches wide, and 12.5 inches deep, the base station isn’t going to blend in with your decor. However, the station holds two water tanks (one for clean and one for dirty water), so the size is unavoidable.

The entire unit is sleek white, slightly reminiscent of a stormtrooper. The robot slots into the bottom of the base station, where it can clean the mop heads as needed and recharge once the task is complete. The unit will tell you when it’s charging or cleaning so you know not to disturb it.

Narwal Freo Pro review: App and setup

I found the Narwal Freo Pro slightly confusing when first setting it up. The device comes with a quick start guide and a basic instruction manual that explains how to power it on and connect it to Wi-Fi.

However, the instructions were confusing, and it took about 10 minutes before I realized I was inserting the vacuum backwards into the base station. Once I got that part right, the setup was fairly straightforward.

To use the Narwal, you must first download the Narwal Freo app. You can register your device from the app by scanning a QR code hidden under the robot’s cover. Once you scan that code, the Narwal will begin attempting to connect to Wi-Fi. It took several attempts to get this process right, but once I did, the robot vacuum connected immediately and was ready to use.

Once connected, the robot needs to map your home layout. You can do this from the app. The robot will explore your house and create a map of each room in the app. On the maps, you’ll notice that the inaccessible areas of a room (for example, where kitchen cabinets or furniture is placed) are shaded lighter than the areas the robot can access for cleaning. Additionally, any carpeted or rugged areas are marked with a cross-hatched pattern.

Cleaning is straightforward once you’ve set up the vacuum and found your way around the app. You can choose between four cleaning modes: vacuum, mop, vacuum and mop, and vacuum then mop. After you’ve sent the robot around your home to map out your floor plan, you can start a cleaning session at any time from the app. The robot will default to cleaning the entire house, but you can also choose only to clean specific rooms if you prefer. You can also schedule sessions to run the device while out of the house or sleeping at night.

The app appears straightforward, though I had trouble finding the right screen to start the cleaning process even after several weeks of use. You can also pause the cleaning session from the app as needed, and end it early by holding your finger on the pause button for several seconds. With repeated use, this should be less of an issue.

In vacuum mode, the Narwal Freo Pro has a noise level between 60 and 62 decibels, which is about average for a robot vacuum.

I mapped the entire downstairs of my home, which is entirely hardwood, and two carpeted bedrooms upstairs. I scattered Cheerios, cat litter, and pet hair on both surfaces and ran the robot to see how it would pick up different debris types. Here’s how the Narwal Freo Pro performed.

Narwal Freo Pro review: Performance and test results

The Narwal Freo Pro is truly a pro at picking up debris from carpets. I used it to clean my kids’ carpeted bedrooms, which usually contain crumbs, dog hair, and random kid things like glitter. After the Freo Pro had mapped the rooms, I ran the vacuum mode. It took less than 10 minutes to vacuum each room, which was quicker than expected. The carpets appeared clean once the vacuum cycle was complete, with no leftover crumbs or debris. The vacuum sucked up larger debris, including Cheerios, with ease, while most of the cat litter and pet hair was removed.

My daughter has long, thick hair, so her room is especially good at clogging up our regular vacuum cleaner. After running the Freo Pro in her room, I checked the roller brush to see if the hair had wrapped around it and was happy to see that there was no evidence of hair on it.

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Narwal Freo Pro review: Mopping performance

After running the Narwal Freo Pro in vacuum mode on my hardwood floor, I was impressed by how much dust, dirt, and pet hair it picked up. My two short-haired dogs shed a lot of fur, and since my hardwood floors are dark and my dogs are light, the hair shows up immediately. Usually, it’s a daily battle between me and the dog hair—not to mention the paw prints and other dog dirt—so I was thrilled that the Narwal could easily pick up dog hair and leave my floors spotless. The Freo Pro also removed almost all traces of cat litter from my test area.

However, the robot struggled to completely remove debris caught in transition areas between hardwood floors and rugs. In these areas, the robot crunched up the Cheerios and left them for me to sweep up once the cycle was complete. It was definitely easier for the Freo Pro to pick up larger debris, like cereal, from carpet than from hard flooring surfaces.

In vacuum and mop mode, the Freo Pro automatically lifts the mop heads when the robot transitions from hard floor to carpet to prevent contamination. I saw this in action during the vacuum and mop cycle I ran and appreciated not worrying about stepping in wet spots on my rugs. The Freo Pro also has DirtSense technology, which monitors wastewater during a mop cycle to determine the floor’s dirt level. If the wastewater is still dirty after mopping an area, the robot will continue mopping until the water is clean. This ensures thorough cleaning every time.

The first time I used the mop cycle, my floors were covered in dog hair, muddy paw prints, dried drool, and more. I wasn’t sure what to expect, having never used a robot mop before, but the floors were truly spotless after the robot completed its task. The cleaning cycle took 2 hours and 36 minutes, and the total area cleaned was 984 square feet.

Although I could certainly have vacuumed and mopped the floors manually in a fraction of the time it took the Freo Pro, I was able to let it run while I worked, so the long run time didn’t bother me (and I was thrilled not to have to do the manual labor of cleaning my floors).

Narwal Freo Pro review: Ease of cleaning

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After the vacuum cycle is finished, emptying the robot is simple. The machine has one hard plastic canister and one HEPA disposable dust bag. Both containers slot into the robot to collect the debris the vacuum picks up during a cycle. Emptying the canister is easy; simply hold it over the trash can and press a button. I used the hard-sided canister because it was the easiest to empty and clean. Whichever option you choose, Narwal uses a unique technology to compress the dirt, allowing the robot to store dust and debris for up to seven weeks.

The Narwal Freo Pro claims to have a tangle-free brush that is 99.9% effective at preventing hair tangles from clogging up the machine. However, as previously mentioned, I couldn’t get the side brushes to stay on the robot during cleaning. Still, I found that the robot worked well at picking up long hairs while vacuuming, and the brush hasn’t clogged once after three weeks of daily use.

During the mopping cycle, the robot returns to the base station every few minutes to clean the mop heads. It empties the dirty water into the dirty water tank in the base station and collects clean water before it sets off again. The water tanks are easy to insert and remove from the base station, and cleaning is as simple as taking the tank to the sink, emptying the water, and rinsing it out before returning it to the base station.

Overall, I was happy with how easy it was to use the Narwal Freo Pro and keep it clean.

Narwal Freo Pro review: Storage and maintenance

The Freo Pro’s base station isn’t exactly miniscule. It won't blend in with the background at 17 inches tall, 15.5 inches wide, and 12.5 inches deep. However, it’s smaller than most traditional vacuum cleaners, so most people should be able to find a space for it in their home. The base station and robot are both white, so if your home’s color palette is pale, the Freo Pro shouldn’t stand out too much.

Maintenance is simple. I check the roller brush and empty the dust canister after each use (though neither is necessary), and empty and clean the water tanks after the machine completes a mopping cycle.

When the robot returns to the base station for mop washing during a mopping cycle, it will use the cleaning base and tray to clean the mops and cycle the dirty water to the appropriate tank. After a mopping cycle, I removed the cleaning base and tray and rinsed them with clean water to remove debris. Both the base and tray slot easily in and out of the base station, so removing them for cleaning is easy.

Narwal Freo Pro review: Comparisons

The Freo Pro is one of Narwal’s newest robot vacuum models. It’s designed as a slightly more affordable alternative to the Freo X Ultra. While the two vacuums share several features, the Freo Pro doesn’t include a self-emptying feature like the X Ultra does. This wasn’t a dealbreaker for me because emptying the dust canister in the Freo Pro is quick and easy.

The Narwal Freo Pro introduces the DualFlow Tangle-Free System that traps hair using the side brushes before transferring it to the main roller brush. This helps prevent clogging the main brush—a major issue for anyone with long or thick hair. The Freo Pro also has slightly more suction power than the Freo X Ultra, though its runtime is slightly less at 180 minutes compared to the Freo X Ultra’s 210 minutes.

The biggest difference between the two is price. The Narwal Freo Pro retails at $699, while the Freo X Ultra has an MSRP of $1,399. Narwal does run sales on the Freo X Ultra, but even then, the price is more than the Freo Pro.

Ultimately, the Freo Pro is a better deal — especially considering it has greater suction power and many of the main features of its more expensive sibling.

Narwal Freo Pro review: Verdict

If you want an affordable machine that can easily handle everyday messes, the Freo Pro is well worth considering. It certainly made my life easier since I could set it to run while I was working, and its relatively low noise level meant it wasn’t distracting. It picked up stray dog (and child) hairs with ease and left my floors spotless.

Overall, the Freo Pro is well worth the price for anyone looking for an affordable robot vacuum and mop that cleans just as well as a more expensive model.

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