Narwal Flow Review: Almost Perfect — Here’s What We Found

Summary

The Narwal Flow is a flagship robot vacuum and mop combo that impressed during testing. Featuring a dual side brush system, a high-powered mop with self-cleaning capabilities, and excellent obstacle avoidance, it excels in both cleaning performance and efficiency. With a large dustbin, long battery life, and smart navigation, it offers top-tier convenience. While there are some minor app issues and lack of automatic detergent dispensing, the Narwal Flow ranks high due to its effective mopping and vacuuming abilities, earning a spot at number two on the Vacuum Wars Top 20 list.

Takeaways

• 😀 The Narwal Flow is a flagship robot vacuum with both vacuuming and mopping features, priced at the higher end of the market.
• 😀 It has a dual side brush system that adjusts automatically to reduce hair tangles, making it effective at picking up debris on various surfaces.
• 😀 The robot performed excellently in hair tangle tests, with a perfect score in the 7-inch hair tangle test.
• 😀 The Narwal Flow scored well above average in carpet deep clean and pet hair pickup tests, highlighting its effectiveness on various surface types.
• 😀 The robot features a large internal dust bin with a removable and replaceable section for deep cleaning, a unique feature in its category.
• 😀 A standout feature is its roller-style mop pad, which is more efficient at handling liquids and stains than traditional spinning mop pads.
• 😀 The Flow Wash Realtime self-cleaning mop system uses a roller that is constantly wet, squeegeeing dirty water into an onboard dirty tank for efficient mopping.
• 😀 The Narwal Flow's multi-functional dock not only empties the dust bin but also washes, dries the mop, and sanitizes other components with hot air.
• 😀 The robot's obstacle avoidance system, utilizing dual cameras and AI, successfully avoided 18 out of 24 objects in tests, showing improvement over previous models.
• 😀 Battery life is impressive, with the Flow performing well in real-world battery tests, achieving a high square feet per charge score of 268.
• 😀 Some minor cons include quality control issues (resolved by priming the pump), the app's occasional quirks, and the lack of an automatic detergent dispensing system in the base.

Q & A

What is the Narwal Flow and what makes it stand out from other robot vacuums?

The Narwal Flow is a flagship robot vacuum and mop combo that features a multi-functional dock for automatic dust bin emptying and mop washing/drying. It stands out with unique features like a dual side brush system to reduce hair tangling, a roller-style mop that offers superior stain removal, and an advanced obstacle avoidance system with AI and dual cameras.

How does the Narwal Flow handle hair tangles?

The Narwal Flow uses a dual side brush system, with brushes that automatically shift shapes, and a main brush roll that channels hair to one side. These features helped the robot perform well in hair tangle tests, scoring a perfect result in a 7-inch hair tangle test.

How effective is the Narwal Flow in vacuuming different floor types?

The Narwal Flow performed well on both hard floors and carpets during testing. It did particularly well in carpet deep cleaning, with an 83% score compared to the average of 76%. It also scored above average in pet hair pickup tests.

What is unique about the Narwal Flow's mopping system?

The Narwal Flow features a roller-style mop instead of the typical dual spinning mop pads. This roller is designed to have more surface area in contact with the floor at any time, allowing it to handle wet spills more efficiently and remove stains better than spinning mop pads.

How does the Narwal Flow's mop roller prevent carpets from getting wet?

The mop roller can automatically lift by up to 11mm, preventing carpets from getting wet during mopping. Additionally, it vacuums carpets first and then mops to ensure carpets stay dry.

What does the multi-functional dock do for the Narwal Flow?

The multi-functional dock is crucial for the Narwal Flow's cleaning system. It automatically empties the robot’s dust bin into a 2.5L bag, washes the mop roller using 176-degree water with a jet spray, and dries the mop pads and dust bag using hot air.

How does the Narwal Flow navigate around obstacles?

The Narwal Flow uses a dual camera system and AI chipset trained on over 200 objects for obstacle avoidance. It avoided 18 out of 24 objects in tests, which is slightly above average. This system is an improvement over Narwal's previous models like the Freo X.

What are the advantages of the Narwal Flow's lidar system?

The Narwal Flow uses a semi-internal spinning lidar system, which provides a 180-degree field of view, compared to the more common 360-degree top-mounted lidars. This design makes the robot slimmer and better able to fit under furniture, although it results in slightly less efficient navigation.

How long does the Narwal Flow's battery last?

The Narwal Flow is rated for 190 minutes of battery life on low power, which is above average. In real-world tests, it achieved the highest battery efficiency score, covering 268 square feet per charge despite its slower navigation.

What are the main cons of the Narwal Flow?

Some of the cons of the Narwal Flow include occasional quality control issues, particularly with the water pump, and the app's limited control over features like obstacle avoidance. Additionally, it lacks an automatic detergent dispensing system in the base, which was available in previous Narwal models.