Experience has shown that Narwal is the right place for anyone who wants to get a robot vacuum cleaner for a small price. In recent years, the manufacturer of smart household helpers, which is unfortunately still relatively unknown in this country, has proven at regular intervals that a good robot vacuum doesn’t have to cost a fortune. In the Narwal Freo X10 Pro test, we have now been able to take a closer look at the latest model, which once again aims to score with a strong price-performance ratio. At a market price of just under 500 euros, you get 11,000 pascals of suction power, intelligent LiDAR navigation and a convenient all-in-one cleaning station. But does this equipment also work in practice? We’ll tell you!
Technical data
| Model | Narwal Freo X10 Pro |
| Suction power | 11.000 Pa |
| Navigation | 3D-LiDAR + optical navigation |
| Main brush | Anti-wrap main brush |
| Side brush | Anti-wrap side brush |
| Mop | – 12mm liftable – One mop pad extendable – 8N pressure on floor |
| Mop cleaning | Cleaning with cold water |
| Wipe drying | Air drying at 40 – 45°C |
| Dust bag | 2.5 L (should last for up to 120 days) |
| Price | € 499.00 * |
Scope of delivery
- Narwal Freo 10 Pro robot vacuum cleaner
- AiO cleaning station
- power cord
- Dust bag
- Strainer for cleaning station
- Instruction manual
Narwal Freo X10 Pro test: design and workmanship
With its appearance, the Narwal Freo X10 Pro joins the ranks of the manufacturer’s previous smart household helpers. At first glance, you can hardly tell it apart from a Narwal Freo Z10 Ultra (Review | € 649.00 *), at least in terms of design and shape. The LiDAR tower and a small control unit, which can be used to pause and start the robot as well as send it back to its cleaning station, are located on the top of the circular robot hoover.
The technology for obstacle detection is located at the front of the white housing. There are distance sensors on the sides and the charging contacts at the rear, which are used to charge the robot’s battery in the station. On the underside we find a side brush and the main brush, which comes in an anti-tangle design to prevent tangled hair. The whole thing is rounded off with the two mop pads.
The robot can lift these when it moves over carpets. Unlike many other robot hoovers with mopping pads, Narwal does not use a circular shape here. Instead, the pads look more like triangles with rounded corners. As one of the two mop pads can be extended, the X10 Pro promises powerful cleaning in corners and edges. We will find out later whether this is the case. The all-in-one station differs from that of the Z10 Ultra.
After all, there is no display on the top, which doesn’t bother me personally. Rather, the cleaning station is reminiscent of that of the flagship Narwal Flow (Review | € 1,299.00 *). The flap on the top provides access to the two large water tanks for fresh and waste water. There is also an illuminated button here that can be used to send the Robo on a cleaning tour at the touch of a button.
At the front there is a cover flap behind which there is space for a 2.5-liter dust bag. The parking lot for the Freo X10 Pro is located in the lower area. This is where the robot hoover is filled with fresh water, vacuumed, cleaned and dried. Both the robot and the all-in-one station impress with their high-quality workmanship. There are no cracks or creaks anywhere. Narwal’s sustainable design deserves special praise. Wear parts can be easily removed and replaced with new ones.
Narwal Freo X10 Pro test: Setup with the Narwal app
A robot vacuum cleaner should do one thing above all: Provide convenience. And, as we all know, ease of use starts with setting up a technical gadget. This is where the Narwhal impresses. The appliance is fully assembled ex works. All you have to do is find a suitable place for the all-in-one station, connect it to the power supply using the mains cable and you’re ready to go. Have your smartphone ready and download the Narwal app.
You don’t just use this to connect the robot vacuum to your own network. Rather, the app is the control center for the smart household helper. First, you use the app to create a map of your own four walls. The Robo travels around your home and maps its surroundings within a few minutes. You can then view the final result via the app and edit it as required. For example, you can adjust the automatic room layout.
You can also integrate exclusion zones and invisible walls. The app also allows you to adjust the cleaning parameters according to your wishes. Should the robot vacuum first and then mop, should it do both at the same time or perhaps only vacuum or only mop? The choice is yours. You can also choose between manual adjustment of suction power and mopping intensity and the intelligent FREO mode.
In FREO mode, the Robo decides how strong the respective power should be based on the degree of soiling and accumulated cleaning experience. In addition, fixed cleaning times can be set in the app and behavior patterns, such as how to handle carpets, can be adjusted. Of course, you can also adjust the parameters of the All-in-One station. For example, the drying time or intensity of the mop pads can be set.
Narwal Freo X10 Pro test: Navigation and obstacle detection
While LiDAR navigation was reserved for flagships a few years ago, navigation technology has long since arrived in the mid-range segment. The advantages of LiDAR can also be felt in the Freo X10 Pro. Thanks to the laser technology, this robot can find its way even in complete darkness. It also usually drives with a system. This means that it first scans the edges of the room and then the center of the room in the form of parallel paths.
However, orientation problems arose from time to time when I had the narwhal clean a certain area. Here it often had to pause to get back on course. Unfortunately, unlike flagships such as a Dreame X50 Ultra (Review | € 888.00 *), the LiDAR tower cannot be retracted, which is why it might be a little too high for some flat furniture. Unlike the flagship Flow, the Narwhal does not rely on a camera system for obstacle detection, but uses Structured Light instead.
This works quite okay in everyday use, but can in no way keep up with the Flow’s outstanding system. Particularly in the case of flat and small obstacles, mishaps did occur. So it’s best not to leave any toys or cables lying around when the Narwhal goes on a cleaning tour. For example, my little rubber dinosaur and my USB cable were often overlooked by the robot during the test and quickly eaten.
Thanks to the anti-tangle brush, however, tangled objects can fortunately be freed easily. It also simply drove over the smartphone. My shoe and the Pokeball, on the other hand, were sometimes avoided and sometimes moved slightly. The sensors did a solid job here. Ultimately, however, you can clearly tell that no camera sensors are used here, as the system is very prone to errors. In this price range, however, you simply can’t expect more.
Narwhal Freo X10 Pro test: suction power
The Narwal Freo X10 Pro comes with a suction power of 11,000 Pa. Although current flagships such as a DJI Romo P (Review | € 1,699.00 *) with its 25,000 Pascal sometimes offer significantly more, it’s not just the technical data that counts when it comes to cleaning performance. The robot must also adequately transfer the vacuum to the floor. The Narwal Freo X10 Pro manages this on hard floors without any problems. In the test, it reliably sucked up my mixture of oat flakes, small soup noodles and coffee beans.
The Robo scored a total of 96 points out of a possible 100. The Narwhal worked well on carpets, but not very well. Thanks to carpet detection, the smart household helper automatically operates at maximum power as soon as it enters the carpet. At least on my short-pile carpet, the Robo achieved a strong result with 96 out of a possible 100 points. On my carpet with longer fibers, you can feel that the X10 Pro would benefit from a few more pascals.
However, it still achieved a solid 84 out of 100 points here. With its anti-tangle main brush, the X10 Pro is also explicitly aimed at pet owners. The special design is intended to prevent tangles, which works well in practice. However, weaknesses are evident when cleaning corners. Unfortunately, the X10 Pro does not have an extendable side brush. Instead, it is supposed to fold out automatically due to the rotation and corresponding centrifugal forces. Unfortunately, this is not enough in many cases, which is why the competition has the edge here.
Narwal Freo X10 Pro test: mopping performance
The Freo X10 Pro uses two rotating mop pads that press down on the floor with 8N to tackle even stubborn stains. To prevent them from accidentally moistening carpets, they can be raised by 12 mm. This is probably not enough for most long-pile carpets. Here, it is always an advantage if the robot vacuum can quickly place the mop pads in the cleaning station.
This feature is offered by flagship models such as the MOVA V50 Ultra (Review | € 849.00 *). In the practical test, I first had the X10 Pro remove a fresh jam stain. It performed quite well here. However, although I started the cleaning in FREO mode, the Narwhal ended the cleaning tour after just one pass, leaving residue on the floor. As a result, I had to ask the vacuum cleaner to mop again manually.
Weaknesses were also revealed when mopping up a coffee puddle. As the Robo does not have an internal dirty water tank, the coffee was only distributed and not sucked up. Here, models with a mopping roller such as the in-house Narwal Flow, an ECOVACS DEEBOT OmniCyclone (Review | € 936.14 *) or an Eufy S1 (Review | € 798.20 *) simply have the edge.
But where the X10 Pro scores again is in edge cleaning. It wipes perfectly along skirting boards, furniture edges or table legs and leaves hardly any uncleaned edges. To prevent accidental moistening of carpets, the Robo raises the mop pads by 12 mm as soon as it moves over carpets.
Narwal Freo X10 Pro test: Cleaning station
In the cleaning station, the mopping pads of the X10 Pro are cleaned with water during and after cleaning. No hot water is used here. Nevertheless, the results are quite solid. I could only see a small stain from the stubborn jam on one of the mops. The wash is followed by hot air drying at 45°C hot air. Of course, the suction function should not be left out.
The dirt collected by the robot is vacuumed up as required, but in any case before each cleaning tour, including the suction function. The 2.5 liter dust bag should be sufficient for several weeks of dust collection. In addition, the station disinfects the dust bag – this prevents smells. The fact that the Freo X10 Pro is in a comparatively low price range is primarily evident in the features of the all-in-one station.
In contrast to current flagships, hot water is not used. Furthermore, there are no features such as automatic filling of the robot’s internal water tank. This means that the X10 Pro has to return to the station regularly to have the mops re-moistened. There is also no automatic addition of cleaning agent or a place to put the mop pads. But at a price of around 500 euros, you simply can’t expect that.
Test results
| Discipline | Test result |
| Vacuuming hard floor | 96/100 points |
| Vacuuming short pile carpet | 96/100 points |
| Vacuuming carpet (medium pile) | 84/100 points |
| Mopping Sticky | Satisfactory to Good |
| Mopping liquids | Adequate |
| Obstacle detection | Satisfactory |
| Edge wiping performance | Very good |
Conclusion
The Narwal Freo X10 Pro proves that you don’t have to dig deep into your pockets to get a modern, powerful robot vacuum mop. In practice, it scores with very good suction power, an effective mopping system for everyday dirt and a convenient all-in-one station that noticeably reduces the amount of maintenance required. The app offers numerous setting options, the navigation works mostly reliably and the workmanship is clearly at a premium level. Limitations are particularly apparent where more expensive models shine with additional sensors or extended stations.
Obstacle detection is only solid, stubborn stains sometimes require several passes and liquids tend to spread the mops rather than absorb them. It also lacks an automatic mop tray or hot water cleaning. All in all, however, Narwal delivers an extremely attractive price-performance package. Anyone looking for a reliable, easy-to-use and powerful mid-range robot vacuum mop will get a lot right with the Freo X10 Pro – and for around 500 euros, you get more cleaning quality than with some significantly more expensive models.
PRO
CONTRA The Narwal Freo X10 Pro is a price-performance cracker with reliable cleaning, but significant weaknesses in obstacle detection.
Narwhal Freo X10 Pro
Design & processing
Ease of use
Suction power
Wiping performance
Navigation
Obstacle detection
Equipment
Price-performance ratio
90/100
