Robot vacuums have come a long way since they first appeared back in 1996. They were very primitive at first, but now we have robot vacuums that can methodically clean the floors, empty their own bin, and even mop the floors as they clean.
Now these two robots, Ecovacs Deebot and Narwal Freo are taking things a step further. Beyond vacuuming and mopping, these robot vacuums can self-empty/refill their water tanks, and also wash and dry the mopping pads to keep them neat and odor-free.
These robots come with a lot of promise, so we put together a Narwal Freo vs Deebot X1 Omni review to see if they actually deliver and determine which is better than the other.
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At a glance
Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Narwal Freo vs Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni – The quick answer
Ecovacs Deebot and Narwal Freo have a lot of similarities and very few differences; you can even argue that the Freo was inspired by the Deebot X1 Omni. However, the Omni is very much ahead of the Freo in terms of general vacuuming performance, better navigation and obstacle avoidance, and even better mopping function.
The Freo, on the other hand, has a lot of great features and an impressive docking station. Although it’s still a new robot brand, we expect to see more improvements from them. Since the Freo doesn’t quite stand up to the Deebot Omni, we certainly have a clear winner; the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni.
Product overviews
Narwal Freo
The Narwal Freo is a very attractive robot mopvac that cleans floors with rubber brushes and rotating mopping pads. The Freo comes hot on the back of the hugely popular and successful Narwal T10 (see more on that here), it is the next evolution and it’s impressive. This robot is powered by a 5,200 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery that delivers up to 3 hours of cleaning on both hardwood floors and low-pile carpets.
The Freo effectively sweeps up pet hairs and dirt particles using a tangle-free rubber brush, two edge-sweeping brushes and a 3000 Pa for better vacuuming power. It also features the LiDAR technology for obstacle avoidance and better navigation while cleaning.
Freo requires very minimal post-cleaning maintenance, besides the self-empty, and auto-recharge features, it can also auto-empty and refill the water tank, and clean the mop pads after each cleaning cycle.
- Good cleaning performance
- Impressive docking station
- Great suction force
- Excellent battery life
- Poor navigation
- Poor edge sweeping
- Poor mopping function
Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni
The Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni is an advanced hybrid vacuum and mopping robot with impressive cleaning capabilities. Deebot delivers excellent cleaning on both hard floors and carpets, thanks to the combined action of a center sweeping brush, 2 side brushes, a large 5200 mAh battery, and a 5000 Pa suction power.
For intelligent navigation and better cleaning performance, this robot-mop combo uses LiDAR technology and a front-facing camera to avoid obstacles on its path and create maps of your home.
The Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni has a very powerful docking station that not only automatically empties the dust bin when it is full, but also separates clean and dirty water in the mopping reservoir and then quickly cleans and dries the mopping pad to prevent bacteria growth and foul smell.
Deebot has an app for remote control and a built-in voice assistant named YIKO, which has more commands than Alexa or Google Assistant.
- Exceptional navigation performance
- Great cleaning performance
- Impressive docking station
- Excellent battery life
- Expensive robot vacuum & mop
- Poor edge sweeping
- Mop function is average
Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Side by side comparison
Smart mapping
Both the Narwal Freo and the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni are capable of smart mapping using LiDAR. They also provide a visual layout of the rooms in a home. This is an interesting feature because as the robots sweep and vacuum your floor, you can view a 3D map of your home in real time. And the maps allow you to target cleaning in particular rooms and create no-go areas, you can adjust the settings from their respective mobile apps.
Cleaning performance
Simply put, Narwal and Deebot X1 Omni are both great at cleaning vacuuming, and they really shine on hard floors. But, this is really no surprise, since most robot vacuums perform better on hard floors. They will also clean low-pile carpets, but not as well as they clean hard surfaces.
Narwal Freo gets under tables and all visible areas well enough to do a complete cleaning job. It has dirt sensing technology that helps it to detect how dirty your floor is and clean it again until it is convinced that the area is clean.
The Deebot actually cleans better than the Freo, despite the dirt-sensing technology of the latter. Deebot is slightly better at picking up debris, however both robots can not efficiently clean corners.
Flooring identification
Both Deebot and Freo are hybrid robots that can simultaneously vacuum and mop, therefore their ability to properly detect different floor types is extremely important. Luckily, both robots are excellent at telling the difference between carpets and hard floors, but they have different approaches to how it’s done.
The Deebot will completely ignore carpet floors when the mop pads are attached, but will vacuum carpets (with increased suction force), if the mop pads are not attached. On the other hand, Freo lets you set a cleaning mode which decides whether it should vacuum carpets or not. And it can vacuum carpets even with the mop pads attached, it simply lifts the mop and continues on carpets.
Battery life
The battery life of both gadgets is roughly 180 minutes or 3 hours. This is equivalent to having a capacity of over 5000 mAh. Depending on settings, a battery of this size should be able to clean an area of about 3000 square feet on a single charge, but they will probably clean less than 3 hours if you select the highest power. However, when the battery is low, the robots return to their charging station to recharge and resume cleaning when it is ready.
Auto-emptying
Most high-end vacuum cleaners have the self-emptying feature, which is activated after each cleaning session. The debris they swept up is dumped in a base station that also functions as a battery charger.
Both the Deebot and the Freo have this feature, but the Freo went a step further to include a touchscreen on the Clean base which gives users access to quick access cleaning controls and a child lock. This is a feature I haven’t seen on any other robots, and it’s quite impressive.
Mopping function
Similar to the cleaning performance, these two robots are also good at mopping. They both have 2 spinning mop pads rotating in opposite directions for better cleaning efficiency. However, the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni also outperforms the Narwal Freo in this category. The Freo has a decent mopping skill, but it doesn’t always catch every spill. It’s more like a hot-or-miss, it performed well on some days and poorly on others.
The two robots will wash and dry the mop heads automatically with hot air after mopping. Washing and drying the mop pad takes a few hours, and it’s not noisy. I especially love this feature because it not only keeps the mop pads neat and odor-free, but also removes the need to manually wash the pads.
Brush rolls
The robots are almost identical here. They both use a center brush as the main sweeping brush, and 2 side brushes for cleaning corners and edges.
Automated Maintenance
Robot vacuum cleaners are becoming more convenient with more automated maintenance features. In addition to self-emptying their bins, cleaning and drying their mop pads, these robots can also empty and refill their water tanks from the base station. They both have two 4L tanks (for clean water and dirty water) reservoir in the dock station.
A 4-liter clean water tank in the dock station supplies clean water to the water tank in the robots for wet mopping, and a similarly large tank collects the dirty water from the robot after each mopping. This removes the need to constantly refill the much smaller water tanks in the robots, and you only have to occasionally fill and empty the 4L tanks in the dock station. The dock stations of these two robots can handle:
- Charging the robot’s battery
- Emptying the dustbin
- Filling and emptying the water tank
- Washing and drying the mop pads
The tanks will still need to be filled and emptied when necessary. Also, the dust bag will need to be replaced whenever it is full, and the robot and station should be cleaned occasionally.
Key differences
Size and look
They both have the same basic circular shape of most robot vacuums, and approximately the same size, but have different colors. The Deebot X1 Omni has an attractive black-and-silver design, it’s about 4.1 inches tall and 14.3 inches in diameter. While the Freo is slightly smaller at 4.1 inches tall and 13.7 inches in diameter, with a shiny white finish.
Most robot vacuum cleaners are guided by LiDAR, and so are these two. Deebot and Freo use LiDAR technology to “see” the set-up in a home. They can identify furniture and avoid them, they can also seamlessly navigate the floors when cleaning, avoiding most of the obstacles on their path. However, there is some difference.
In addition to the LiDAR technology, Deebot is also fitted with an RGB camera and 3D structured light for better detection of obstacles, and this actually makes a lot of difference. On the other hand, the Freo navigation is more basic and doesn’t quite match up to the Deebot.
Suction power
Ecovacs Deebot X1 OMNI has an incredibly powerful suction rating of 5000 Pa, which impacts how it effectively picks up debris from both hardwood floors and low-pile carpets. In contrast, the Narwal Freo has a suction rating of 3000 Pa, which is also high for a robot vacuum, but is obviously much lower than that of the Deebot.
App and voice control
The mobile app includes scheduled cleaning, map management, and other features. You can create a map of your home in the Narwal app to specify where Freo should clean. There are options for cleaning carpets and returning the robot to its base station. You can also use voice commands to control the Freo. The Deebot has a built-in voice assistant named YIKO. This assistant has more commands than Alexa or Google Assistant.
Vacuuming noise
Vacuuming noise can be quite loud in some robots, but the Deebot and Freo are not loud robots. Deebot has a wide noise range (33 to 42 dB), depending on the cleaning mode you set, and the Freo has an operating noise of about 39 dB. Of course, they both get very loud when self-emptying.
FAQs
Can they vacuum and mop at the same time?
Yes, they can. But how they do it is slightly different. Narwal Freo has a carpet sensor that detects carpeted areas. When the carpet cleaning feature is activated, the robot will identify carpeted areas and vacuum them. If this feature is deactivated, the robot will identify and avoid carpets.
In contrast, Deebot will avoid carpets if the mop pads are attached. But if the mop pads are not attached, it will detect and vacuum carpets with increased suction force. Note that these robots can only vacuum low-pile carpets.
Do they mop with just water or use cleaning solution?
Ecovas only uses water, but Narwal Freo has its own exclusive floor cleaner that the base station can automatically add if you turn on this function; you can turn it off if you don’t want the cleaner to be added. Narwal advises against using alternative cleaning agents as they could damage the robot’s piping system and components.
Will they avoid pet waste?
No they won’t. They can pick up pet hair but not poop, so make sure you clean up after your pets before sending your robots to vacuum or mop.
Can you schedule when to auto-empty?
No, you can’t. Both robots are designed to self-empty after each vacuuming and mopping.
Will they mop concrete floors?
Robot vacuum cleaners are typically designed for smooth hard floors such as wood, laminate, tiles, and marble, among others. A robot should not be used to clean your floor if it is rough and uneven. If your concrete floors are smooth, then you can use any of these robots.
Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni vs Narwal Freo – Final thoughts
This comparison between two robot-mop vacuums has been fun and insightful so far, and I’m ready to give my verdict.
So here it is: The Freo has a lot of impressive features, but it still needs to improve on navigation and cleaning. Honestly, this robot would have been so much better if the obstacle avoidance and navigation were a little better. Also, the cleaning and mopping are only average, they are really not great. But I believe they will improve and come back with a much better product.
With that out of the way, we have a winner; the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni.
