Hands-on review: Narwal Freo Z10

The Freo Z10 is one of two new flagship robot vacuums from Narwal. This new model, launched alongside the (slightly) superior Freo Z10 Ultra, boasts incredible suction power, an extendable mop to clean those hard-to-reach spots, as well as an AI-powered base station. It also proudly flaunts the brilliant DualFlow Tangle-Free System, which won a Canstar Blue 2025 Innovation Excellence Award just a couple of months ago.

For almost a year now, I have been utilising Narwal’s previous flagship device – the Freo Z Ultra – every few days to help keep on top of the cleanliness of our small apartment. So, you could imagine how keen I was to get my hand on one of the company’s latest models to see what’s new.

First impressions and setup

The Freo Z10’s base station lacks a screen like some of Narwal’s other models and instead uses a minimalist row of buttons that gives it a much cleaner look. There’s a lid at the top to access the water tanks, and a removable magnetic cover on the front to access the dustbag and the included detergent cartridge. 

The base station is on the larger side, but a positive to that is the tanks and dustbag are also large, which means you don’t have to empty or replace them as often. There is also a lot of clever stuff that goes on inside the base station, which explains why it weighs over 11kg. Size-wise, the robot itself has a diameter of around 35cm, a height of just under 11cm, and it weighs in at around 4.6kg – nimble enough to fit under your furniture, but heavy enough for it to feel robust.

Setting up the Freo Z10 for the first time takes about 10 minutes and involves removing several pieces of protective packaging and connecting some small parts – namely the dual side brushes and the plastic ramp for the base station. You should also put some water in the clean water tank ready for your first mop.

Once the base station and robot are both ready, you simply download the Narwal app and follow the steps on screen.

Features and performance

Mapping your living space takes around eight minutes and works using the Freo Z10’s sensors that help create a 360-degree map, which you can see being rendered in real-time on the app interface. Once this is done, you can use the app to choose to view your floorplan in 2D or 3D, and then you can choose to edit the map to do things like confirm each room’s floor materials or select no-go zones.

The app offers four main (self-explanatory) options for cleaning: ‘Vacuum and Mop’, ‘Vacuum then Mop’, ‘Vacuum’ and ‘Mop’. For each of these selections, you can choose whether you want to use Narwal’s ‘Freo Mind’ – a feature which uses the robot’s sensors to create more efficient cleaning routes and decide if an area requires extra cleaning, effectively optimising how your home is cleaned. Alternatively, you can turn this off and manually determine how much suction power the robot uses, how humid the mops are, and how meticulous the coverage should be.

The Freo Z10 completes its tasks quietly and is non-obtrusive as it navigates its way around. To keep on top of our dog’s malting fur, I tend to run the ‘Vacuum’ function every day or two, and two or three times per week I’ll opt for the ‘Vacuum then Mop’ function, which I find gives the best result.

I put the Freo Z10 through a handful of tests, including various types of spillages – both dry and wet – and it excelled at each one of them. The sensors can determine what type of mess its dealing with and adapt accordingly. For some jobs, it would return to the base station two or three times to ensure the area was left spotless.

The sensors also allow the Freo Z10 to navigate around certain obstacles, which it does well. However, both the Freo Z10 Ultra and Freo Z Ultra use dual cameras rather than just sensors, and it must be said that the obstacle recognition and avoidance is slightly superior on those models. Personally, I tend to have a quick tidy up around the apartment and remove any objects off the floor before I send a robot vacuum around, so this isn’t an issue.

Underneath the Freo Z10, you’ll notice the dual mop pads are a triangular shape, which is a familiar feature seen across the Narwal range and ensures your floor is cleaned right up to the edges of each room. Just to be sure, the right mop pad can also swing outwards to get in every corner and crevice. 

Beneath the robot, you can also see the award-winning zero-tangling floating brush, which works in tandem with the dual side brushes to guide fur and hair into the suction pipe. This feature is the real-deal and hasn’t failed on me once.

The Freo Z10 possesses 15,000 Pa of suction power, which removes 99% of particles on hardwood floors with a 99% hair removal rate. On carpets it also does a good job but, like with many robot vacuums, you might want to go back over it with a traditional vacuum cleaner – particularly if you have a dog who malts as much as ours does.

The mops rotate at speeds of up to 180 RPM with 8N of downward pressure. The mops also feature a patented design which results in a streak-free finish on your flooring. 

During each cleaning cycle, if the robot senses its internal dust bag is getting full or its mops could do with a clean, it will scoot back to its base station and do just that. The dustbag can be quickly emptied ready to go again, and the mops are cleaned using AI adaptive hot water washing, which analyses the mop pads to determine the necessary temperature required. While this happens, the base station also cleans itself.

Other than emptying the dirty water tank and filling up the clean one, the maintenance of the Freo Z10 is super easy. The dust bag is an impressive 2.5 litres, so even that only needs to be emptied every now and again.

After just a few uses, the Freo Z10 can quickly become part of your regular cleaning schedule, performing its jobs to a standard that make your life so much easier. If you’re organised and like to do your cleaning at the same time each week, you can set up a regular cleaning schedule. You can also use Alexa, Siri, or Google Home to get the robot to commence cleaning.

Verdict

The Narwal Freo Z10 is an outstanding robot vacuum that delivers exceptional performance across the board. It handles daily cleaning with ease, navigates around your space efficiently, and requires very little maintenance and manual input thanks to its self-cleaning and self-emptying features.

The app allows for extensive customisation of your space, and although it could do with some refining, it’s still intuitive and easy to use.

The reliance on sensors over cameras has a couple of downsides, but this shouldn’t necessarily be a factor for most users – mapping, navigation and obstacle avoidance is still top-notch. If you’re willing to spend a bit more money, the Freo Z10 Ultra offers cameras, as well as some other additional features. 

And robot vacuums don’t come cheap. The NZD $2,225 price tag of the Freo Z10 might put some potential buyers off, but Narwal often has special offers on its website that give significant discounts. Although they’re not required often, it’s worth noting that replacement parts such as mop pads and dustbags can sit on the pricier side and must be purchased directly from Narwal. 

Narwal has delivered again with the Freo Z10 – it’s a smart, capable, reliable, and robust addition to any home.