Unlike Roborock or iRobot, the Narwal isn’t a household name in the realm of vacuum robotics. So, it was quite unexpected to see the Narwal Freo pegged at a premium price point, rivaling top-tier Roborocks. After putting it head-to-head with the Q Revo, Roborock’s flagship, my verdict was that the Narwal Freo is a bargain, while the Roborock Q Revo is better. My in-depth comparison of Narwal Freo vs Roborock Q Revo will elucidate further.
These bots share a lot of bells and whistles, including LiDAR navigation technology, storage capacity for up to 4 maps, compatibility with a feature-laden app, and a multi-functional base. The Roborock Q Revo has better overall cleaning performance and is equipped with an IR sensor for obstacle avoidance. Meanwhile, the Narwal Freo’s home base, while lacking the self-emptying feature, sets itself apart with a sleek touchscreen interface, not to mention it has DirtSense technology for more thorough floor cleaning.
Narwal Freo Vs Roborock Q Revo: Comparison Chart
Narwal Freo Vs Roborock Q Revo: Differences
When pitted against one another, the Roborock Q Revo secures a win with a 3-2 lead over the Narwal Freo. Check out my thorough comparison of these robotic vacuums for more information!
Cleaning Performance
Winner: Roborock Q Revo
Airflow
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| Quiet | ≈ 4.6 CFM | ≈ 8.1 CFM |
| Normal/Balanced | ≈ 6.8 CFM | ≈ 9.43 CFM |
| Strong/Turbo | ≈ 7.8 CFM | ≈ 11.6 CFM |
| Super Powerful/Max | ≈ 12.9 CFM | ≈ 13.1 CFM |
These robots have subpar airflow in the three lower settings, but, fortunately, they were decent in my cleaning tests, reaching above-average scores. Higher airflow enabled the Q Revo to outperform the S8 MaxV in picking up debris on my hard floor.
Hard Floor
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo |
|---|---|
| ≈ 96% | ≈ 99% |
These robots performed best on my hardwood floor, picking up most debris on this type of surface and leaving very little behind. The Q Revo achieved an extremely high collection rate of 99%, while the Narwal Freo was above average despite its low airflow.
Carpet
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| Low-pile Carpet | ≈ 92% | ≈ 94% |
| High-pile Carpet | ≈ 86% | ≈ 90% |
I also tested these bots on my low- and mid-pile carpets. Again, the Q Revo was better than its rival, given its higher airflow output. While the Narwal Freo’s performance wasn’t stellar on my carpets, it was still decent, considering that it is a lower-powered robovac.
Hair
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| 5-inch Strands | ≈ 75% | ≈ 62% |
| 10-inch Strands | ≈ 67% | ≈ 55% |
I also tested them on five- and ten-inch hair and this proved to be their Achilles’ heel. They did not achieve high scores with a lot of strands wrapping around their rollers. The Q Revo had a silver lining – its bristle-free design made the detangling process considerably smoother.
Design & Usability
Winner: Roborock Q Revo
Dimensions & Weight
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions (W x H) | 13.8 x 4.17 inches | 13.9 x 3.8 inches |
| Weight | 9.59 lbs | 10 lbs |
Both the Narwal Freo and Q Revo have a round frame with a laser tower on top for mapping and helping them navigate around furniture and obstacles. The LIDAR knob also makes these bots somewhat taller than ones based on vSLAM, but they are still adept at getting beneath low-standing furniture.
They also come with do-it-all home bases with crisp white housing, oozing understated elegance. The Narwal Freo’s tower has a gentle curve compared to the Q Revo’s boxy-shaped base. I know that no one plans to buy robot vacuums as décor items, but these bases are undeniably attention-grabbing, evoking some devices from a dreamy cinematic universe. And given their size and bulk, finding an ideal spot might pose a challenge.
Extractor & Side Brush
Speaking of the main roller, the Narwal Freo uses a single combo brush roller, whereas the Q Revo features a bristle-less brush. The Q Revo’s rubber roller may not surpass the combo brush on the Narwal Freo in agitating debris, but it prevents hair from winding around it too tightly, which eases the detangling process at the end of the day. The Narwal Freo is compatible with an all-rubber roller, but that’s something you need to buy separately.
The Narwal Freo is equipped with dual two-pronged side brushes, while the Q Revo sports a three-pronged brush at its corner. The dual side brushes on the Narwal Freo have a clip-on design, so there’s no need for a screwdriver to remove them from the robot like you would with the Q Revo.
Their side brushes rotate at a moderate pace, minimizing debris scatter, but the longevity of their bristled tips raises some durability questions. Good news for Roborock followers: the Q Revo is compatible with the newer all-rubber side brush.
Navigation
These bots can map your living space quickly and accurately, thanks to LiDAR navigation technology or the laser tower that I mentioned earlier. After one or two exploration tours, they can complete the map and display it in the Narwal or Roborock Home apps. And since these robots use LIDAR, they navigate efficiently and start by cleaning the edges before the middle zones in straight lines.
Do you have more than one floor that needs to be cleaned daily? No problem! Both can save up to four levels. Sure, this might not be as impressive as Roombas, which can store up to ten floor maps, but it’s perfectly adequate for most households. I mean, it’s quite rare to find households boasting more than four floors.
Regarding obstacle avoidance, the Q Revo takes the lead with a built-in IR sensor. During my testing, this one was very good at avoiding sufficiently large obstacles, including my shoe, doll, or even fake pet poop. Still, it struggles with stretched wires, which my S7 MaxV easily avoided thanks to its advanced RGB camera.
As for the Narwal Freo, it has no IR sensor or RGB camera, so it may constantly get stuck on obstacles, interrupting its cleaning cycles, and it can’t complete its mission. If you don’t want to always be present during the whole cleaning trip, prepping the floors beforehand is a crucial step.
Battery Life
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| Battery Life | ≈ 64–174 mins | ≈ 98–201 mins |
| Charging Time | ≈ 194mins | ≈ 210 mins |
The battery life of both is also very impressive. They use a 5200 mAh Li-ion battery with a claimed battery life of up to 180 minutes. Once their task is complete or their energy depletes, they autonomously head back to their home station. And once re-energized, they carry on from where they paused.
Control
Winner: Narwal Freo
Manual Control
When considering a robovac, I’m also always interested in what I can do with it without my phone since, after all, you don’t always have your cell phone in your hand. Of course, you still need to download the app to access all the functions.
The Q Revo uses the minimalist aesthetic of Roborock, with just two physical buttons on top: one kickstarts its cleaning cycle, and the other directs it back to its home station. On the other hand, the Narwal Freo only has a single power button, and you can control it using a cutting-edge touchscreen on top of the cleaning station.
Yes, the home base that comes out of the box with the Narwal Freo actually has a touchscreen where you can send the Narwal Freo on patrol, toggle between cleaning modes, and beckon it back to the base. It sounds like an unnecessary gimmick, but it indeed offers a more intuitive way to control the Narwal Freo robovac.
App Connectivity
The Narwal Freo and Q Revo are compatible with the Roborock Home and Narwal Freo apps, respectively, and I’ll enumerate the most helpful features of both, starting with the live map function, which is one of the most useful features shared by these apps. Both can show the location of the robot in real-time, but unlike Roborock, Narwal Freo shades vacuumed zones instead of using grid lines to mark them. Both also have the option to display maps in 3D in addition to traditional 2D.
Once the map is partitioned into specific rooms, you can name them on the Roborock app. Both apps enable you to choose to clean specific rooms and bypass the rest. But what Roborock has over Narwal Freo is the ability to connect to Google Home or Alexa, facilitating voice commands. The omission of this feature in the Narwal Freo app is, to my mind, a noticeable drawback since it’s become a standard in most robovac apps today.
Both the Roborock Home and Narwal Freo apps also allow you to draw no-go boxes or rectangles to keep certain areas out of the robot’s coverage. The Narwal Freo app takes the no-go option a notch higher by offering choices like vacuuming and mopping, mopping only, and vacuuming only. The Roborock app has the option to set invisible walls, preventing the robot from crossing into specific areas, such as near a pet’s food and water bowls.
Both apps also enable you to select zones for the bot to clean, just like the “Clean Zone” feature found in the iRobot app. This is especially handy for focusing on specific zones within a larger space, like targeting just the kitchen flooring in your kitchen.
Cleaning & Maintenance
Winner: Roborock Q Revo
The Q Revo uses a 0.35-liter dustbin, slightly smaller than the above-average capacity of the Narwal Freo’s 0.48-liter bin. That means the Q Revo’s bin needs to be emptied more often, but that’s a job you don’t need to get your hands on since its base has a self-emptying feature. Whenever the dustbin gets full, the Q Revo automatically heads over to the home base and sends all the dust and dirt into a 2.7-liter dust bag.
But wait, doesn’t the Narwal Freo also come with a multi-purpose base? Yes, I initially thought that too, but in hindsight, I realized that emptying the dustbin is the only thing the Narwal Freo’s base can’t do. I mean, it can still self-refill the water tank, self-wash the mopping pads, and self-dry them, but dust bin disposal remains a task for you to handle manually.
When it comes to the filtration system, the Narwal Freo incorporates a HEPA filter, whereas the Q Revo opts for an E11 filter. Both filters are designed to be washable, and it’s recommended to rinse them under running water periodically.
Other Features
Winner: Narwal Freo
Noise
| Narwal Freo | Roborock Q Revo | |
|---|---|---|
| Working | ≈ 49-61 dB | ≈ 45-67 dB |
| Self-Emptying | None | ≈ 75 dB |
A silver lining to low airflow is the reduced noise level, and this is the case for the Narwal Freo. The Q Revo also operates quietly when it is in the first three settings. The Q Revo is also particularly noisy when it empties its dust box in the home base. The Q Revo also becomes significantly noisier when discharging its dust box itself into the home base.
Mopping Ability
Right off the bat, the Narwal Freo features a pair of rounded triangle microfibre pads compared to the dual round-shaped mopping discs on the Q Revo. Narwal said that this design ensures no gaps in between for maximum coverage, but I just couldn’t personally vouch for that! However, having two counter-rotating mopping pads means these hybrid robots definitely have an edge in cleaning efficacy compared to those without such an agitation mechanism.
Another innovation that the Narwal Freo brings to the table is its inclusion of “Narwal’s exclusive cleaner.” This cleaner, provided in a compact bottle, is placed upside down inside the home base to trickle into the robot, so your floors will be mopped with a mix of water and cleaning solution that carries a subtle aroma of lemon and basil.
Furthermore, the Narwal Freo’s home station comes equipped with DirtSense, an integrated sensor designed to assess water quality (specifically how dirty it is) to determine if it’ll deploy additional runs. It is worth noting that there is no fixed number of passes: it could vary from just one to several, contingent on the outcomes of the DirtSense evaluation.
Last but not least, the pads on these bots are designed to be lifted and avoid contact with carpets. You can also protect your precious carpets by shielding them with no-mop zones on the app.
Like what I did with other vac-and-mop robots, I tested them on juice and dried BBQ stains, and both easily removed (nearly) all the juice stains after the first pass. As for the dried BBQ stains, they struggled and couldn’t get everything out. That said, even when equipped with superior features, the Narwal Freo still can’t take the place of your dedicated mop in terms of handling tougher stains or deep cleaning.
Quick Rundown Of Roborock Q Revo
- Multifunctional Dock - Say Goodbye to Dirty Work. Roborock Qrevo offers a feature-packed dock with Auto Mop Washing so no manual cleaning is needed as well as Hot Air Drying after each cleanup to prevent the development of unpleasant odors. The 5L water tank automatically fills the robot’s tank for a max mopping range of 4305 sqft. Self-emptying means you get hands-free cleaning for up to 7 weeks, and the easily detachable dock base allows thorough cleaning for your convenience.
- Dual Spinning Mops - Watch Stains Disappear. With a spinning speed of 200 RPM and consistent downward pressure, Roborock Qrevo effortlessly removes stains from soda to dried-on spills and more, leaving you with a spotless floor every time. It has 30 water flow levels so you can fine-tune cleaning to match your floor types and preferences.
- Auto Mop Lifting - Mop and Vacuum in One Clean. With Auto Mop Lifting of 7mm, you can clean carpets and floors with ease. Mops are automatically lifted when vacuuming carpets and returning to the dock so that floors and carpets are cleaned in one go and no dirty streaks are left behind.
- 5500Pa Extreme Suction - Keeps the Mess Away. The great suction helps the robot vacuum reach deeper and easily capture dust and dirt from hardwood floors to tiles, and even carpets. The All-Rubber Brush floats on a multi-directional frame for effective cleaning and easily clears away pet hair with fewer hair tangles.
- Reactive Tech Obstacle Avoidance - Detect and Avoid Obstacles with Total Precision. Roborock Qrevo can detect and avoid potential hazards precisely, making cleanups a breeze. PreciSense LiDAR Navigation with 3D Mapping Technology creates precise maps that can be viewed in 3D, and you can add furniture and floor materials to your virtual home build for accurate and customized cleaning.
Quick Rundown Of Narwal Freo
- 🟣 Freo Mode: From hands-free to mind-free. Narwal Freo mopping robot inherited mop self-cleaning, self-washing, and drying that integrates vacuum & mop. Under Freo mode, this robot vacuum and mop combo make optimal cleaning decisions and actions, redefining the auto-cleaning logic in your life.
- 🟣 Dirtsense Ultra Clean: Different from other robot mops and vacuums, the Dirtsense* tech of Freo Intelligently detects how dirty the mops are. Then Freo sanitizes the mop pads in high-speed spinning with the exact amount of water mixed with the scientific ratio of floor cleaner(included in the package).
- 🟣 Smart Swing Mopping: Dust and stains along walls and baseboards can be hard to reach for many robot mops and vacuums. Thanks to the Corner-Traps* technology, the Freo robot vacuum and mop combo periodically activates Smart Swing that deals with the dust in corners and baseboard.
- 🟣 Deeper and Safer Clean: The patented high-speed spinning mop pads deliver 12N downward force. The original triangular design boasts seamless rotation, leaving no streaks behind. The downward force can be flexibly chosen on various flooring types. Vinyl, tile, laminate, hardwood floors, marble...Narwal robot mop and vacuum does no harm to your floor with deep cleaning.
- 🟣 Three Mop Drying Modes: Mop pads can be foul if not drying well after mopping. Freo robot vacuum and mop combo feature dual air tunnels with 40℃ gentle heat, ensuring the mop pads are thoroughly dried after every use. Every mopping is simple and sanitary.
Product Videos
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References:
- Roborock Q Revo: https://us.roborock.com/pages/roborock-q-revo
- Narwal Freo: https://us.narwal.com/products/narwal-freo
Richard B. Schmidt is a prominent figure in the vacuum cleaner industry, boasting over 15 years of expertise. Armed with a Robotics Engineering degree from Northeastern University and a Master’s in Consumer Science from Harvard, his unique blend of technical knowledge and consumer insights positions him as a sought-after authority in vacuum cleaner evaluation. Richard’s career began at Dyson, where he contributed to the development of innovative vacuum models. Transitioning to advocacy and reviews, he co-founded the first Vacuum-focused blog in 2008, offering comprehensive analysis and user guides for various vacuum cleaners. In 2020, he founded RoboMop.net, providing ongoing insights through columns and buyer’s guides.