REVIEW: The Narwal Freo 20 Edge – An all-rounder robot vac with all the features you need

The Narwal Freo 20 Edge is one of the newer incarnations of household vacuum/mop robotic cleaners and as such, possesses some of the more advanced features on the market, despite it being a non-flagship model. It has just hit the market and I have been testing it out to see if it is a contender for the average Aussie home.

Super suction, tangle-free brushes, edge cleaning (hence the name) and a Flow Wash style mopping system guarantees you a superior finish on your hard floors and a satisfying result on the carpeted areas in your home. All whilst living in the mid-range pricing region.

The specs

• FlowWash™ Mopping System with real-time self-cleaning
• 31,000Pa Hyper Suction
• DualFlow Tangle-Free System with a cyclone tangle-free roller brush and detangling side brush
• Extending Track Mop & Reversing Side Brush to reach further into corners and along edges
• Maintenance-Free Multifunctional Dock with automated cleaning, drying and self-emptying
• 45°C Warm-Air Drying to help maintain the mop between cleaning cycles
• 2.5L dust bag with compression technology providing up to 120 days of dust storage
• 9.5cm ultra-slim design for greater access beneath furniture
• Quieter cleaning operating at around half the industry-average noise level
• 5,200mAh battery

This is a more affordable version of the Freo 20. The features that differentiate the Freo 20 Edge from it’s more expensive cousin the Freo 20, is the technology used in the obstacle avoidance. It lacks the cameras. It also has a slightly smaller battery. But interestingly its suction power at 31,000 Pa is up there with all recent vacuum robot releases

Mopping is also at ambient temperature, rather than at 60°C

So can you live without those small limitations? If so, read on cause it is still an awesome vacuum

What’s in the box?

Not much besides the robot itself and the docking station

There are no extra accessories and don’t panic, the sidebrush is located in the clean water tank for shipping. It’s not missing.

Be aware that you need to remove the foam insert in the vacuum that protects it during shipping and you’ll find the dustbag located underneath the water tanks. Fill the clean water tank and you are ready to set the robot up

The App

As usual you are required to download the app and register

Pairing went smoothly in the app. You simply choose to add a device, enter your Wi-Fi details and let the app find your device. The obligatory firmware update took approx 15 minutes

A quirk? In the setup process you are asked if you wish to enable pet mode. As I have a dog I said yes. That automatically enabled child lock “to prevent accidental activation by pets” which had to be disabled in settings later.

Mapping

Mapping took only 14 minutes so it is a fairly painless process. With any robot vacuum mapping process the initial pass is just the first step. The Narwal tries its best to differentiate one room from another but you will always need to finesse it afterwards. Options to do so are to split rooms, combine rooms, establish no-go zones, virtual barriers, name rooms and add furniture etc.

As usual I recommend closing all curtains to avoid phantom rooms being created. Rooms you cannot delete, only block from being cleaned. Having said that, small gaps in the curtains saw the mapping see beyond the window but it did not create a room once the mapping was completed

When splitting a room the Narwal app has nice tactile feedback to let you know when you have the split line aligned – That’s a big tick from me as it can sometimes be fiddly getting that alignment right

What sort of maps do you like? 2D or 3D? I think the 3D map option is pretty shmick so I will always go for that.

Once you are happy with your map (you can always modify it later) the robot goes out for its initial clean. This is a clean of the entire footprint so make sure your robot is fully charged. The initial cleaning cycle is where the Freo 20 Edge determines various floor types that exist in each room so it can undertake the proper cleaning method room by room. Don’t worry, robots are so advanced now that you will never get your carpet mopped

I’ve found with the Narwals that they don’t mind giving furniture a good old nudge so don’t worry when you hear the odd bang or thump.

A weird quirk: The app offers you helpful hints as you navigate through. Tips and tricks that may assist you understanding how to use the vacuum are displayed at the top of the screen.  This one caught my eye. It said “It is strictly forbidden to share the same drainage channel between the base station drainage pipe and other drainage equipment, otherwise it may cause abnormal drainage”. I’ll keep that in mind Narwal, if I can work out what on earth it means.

Performance

Vacuuming

With 31,000Pa of suction power there is not much this vacuum can’t pick up.

The reversing side brushes try to get into every corner and sweep everything from the edges of your floor into the main vacuum inlet. My dark tiles show every bit of dirt and they came up a treat. An added plus is that pet hair does not clog the brushes. The tangle-free design is truly tangle-free.

On hard surfaces that suction is probably overkill but on carpets I’d always recommend the highest setting. There are 4 levels which are Quiet, Standard, Strong and Super Powerful. Even at the highest setting the Narwal Freo 20 Edge is not loud at all. I was worried it wasn’t cleaning properly as I am used to associating sound with performance.

Noise levels at all settings (All readings taken from 1m above the robot)

• Ambient noise 24db
• Mop drying 30 db
• Quiet vacuuming – 49db
• Standard vacuuming – 52db
• Strong vacuuming – 54db
• Superpowerful vacuuming – 60db

Mopping

This is where the Narwal is exceptional.

I think they have nailed the mopping process. The flattened roller gives downward pressure over a large footprint and it is something to see it glide over a spill or dirt and watch it disappear the other side of the pass. Clean water is continuously sprayed on the roller and a scraper diverts the dirty water away.

Edge cleaning

As per the name this robot has a mop that can extend to reach right up to the skirting boards. No need to do anything as it is all automatic.

Spills

Using the AI Freo Mind option (rather than choosing your own options) it easily cleaned up spills. In reality you are likely to use papers towels or similar to soak the excess before you mop but for testing purposes I didn’t. I suggest however that you allow the robot to fully clean, dry and disinfect the mop before you use it again. That process can be interrupted but after cleaning up coffee, tea, cordial or other colourful liquids it’s probably best to let the full cycle run. That may take up to two hours to fully dry but the app tells you the status.

Obstacle avoidance

This is the test I love because it justifies my purchase of fake poo from Amazon.

I placed 4 items on the floor then set the Freo 20 Edge to vacuum that zone. It easily avoided 3 of the 4 items but the fake poo seems to be the nemesis of many robot vacuums. It is unlikely you will confront this scenario so it can be forgiven.

All in all it did a great job.

Whilst not technically obstacle avoidance I found the Edge was pretty good at scaling thresholds of up to 20mm. I did however challenge it a bit by having my threshold combined with a drop. The robot did as expected and stopped before dropping but was stuck on the door tracks. At least it didn’t venture outside as others have done. Nice job

The Freo 20 edge does have a nifty feature that identifies items when it does identify something to avoid. It uses icons to show where shoes and cables were found. Importantly they didn’t get caught up in the brushes. They were avoided

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are a great way to quickly get the robot to perform a cleaning cycle that you use often. For example I have an “All tiles” shortcut and a “Tiles excluding bathrooms” shortcut. Cleaning becomes a simple one button selection. Couple these shortcuts with schedules and you really do have a machine that cleans what you want, when you want and gives you the confidence it won’t get caught up in stuff you left on the floor.

This is especially welcoming when you decide to run the vacuum remotely when you are not at home. The dock has emptied the debris at the end of the last clean and the mop is washed so let it loose whilst you are out and about.

So I have given this Narwal Freo 20 Edge a real workout. My normal robot vacuum is a higher end Narwal with the cameras and all the extra features but you know what? I didn’t miss any of them. Yes it would be great to have a camera to spy on the dog and more advanced navigation and obstacle avoidance and hotter temperature mopping but I didn’t miss those features at all. The Freo 20 Edge was on a daily schedule that worked for me and when I needed an extra vacuum or mop I used a shortcut.

So yes it isn’t as feature-rich as some but it also isn’t as expensive. However at an RRP of $2,299 it sits at the higher end of the mid-range pricing level. At time of publishing the Narwal Freo 20 Edge is discounted to $1,799 and a further $100 off for EFTM readers by using the code SNS100

The good

• Haptic feedback when editing the map
• Flattened roller gives great surface area when mopping
• Cleans right to the edges
• Quiet

The not so good

• No camera
• Lack of consumables such as spare dustbags or filters
• Without discounting it is a bit expensive