Can Narwal's flagship robot vacuum survive a pet owner's house?

I've spent 70 days with Narwal's flagship Flow robot vacuum cleaner and mop, and I think I've only personally vacuumed the house three or four times. The robot did the rest.

According to the app, it has cleaned about 4.1 square kilometres of my flooring, clocked over 100 hours of runtime, and completed 54 separate cleaning missions.

Those numbers are decent for a review, but they don't answer the one question that matters. Can this machine survive day-to-day in a house for years to come?

When you're choosing a robot vacuum with a hefty price tag, you aren't just paying for raw specs. You're paying something to deal with the day-to-day home chaos (and before we know it, we'll be paying for that Neo Home Robot).

So here's our honest review of the little robot vacuum that could.

NOTE: Prices are accurate at the time of publishing.

Narwal Flow Robot Vacuum and Mop at a glance...

Amazon | $2999Kogan | $2199Big W | $2199

Pros: Great suction power, obstacle avoidance, mop quality, maintenance tracker, 40mm gap bridging, pet safe vacuum

Cons: Price, unstable app connection, no cleaning agent dispenser, needs maintenance

Who is it for: Time-poor individuals and families after a mostly hands-free cleaning experience that meticulously vacuums and mops. Great for households, perhaps overkill for small apartments

Pets against the machine

The biggest concern was the pet factor. Will it eat the cat's tail? Will my dog bark at it, hours on end?

The Narwal Flow features 'TwinAI Dodge' technology, which uses edge computing to recognise objects in real-time and calculates the most efficient route for cleaning. Narwal says it can recognise "200+ objectives", and in my experience, it lived up to that.

Our cat, appropriately named Spooky, is absolutely terrified of everything. To her credit, the vacuum gets loud when it's intensively cleaning. But even as the robot vacuum would emerge from its station, sweepers probing and lights on, Spooky would perk up and run away.

The real challenge was going to be our pet border collie, Millie. She became a frequent hairy roadblock for the robot vacuum. Thankfully, Flow would approach her, recognise that she was an obstacle, and change its course to navigate around her.

Millie also has this smart-sensing consciousness, much like that of the robot's, and would grumpily shift out of the way.

The app also photographs obstacles as it vacuums. Throughout the day, I would get updates on the cords, shoes, and pets the robot would encounter, which I could view from within the app. Alas, this meant the pets stayed safe.

The ongoing battle against spring shedding

Our furry friends like to moult... a lot. We tested Flow throughout spring, all the way up until early Summer.

Thankfully, Narwal bumped the suction power on this model from 15,000Pa to 22,000Pa (from their previous models). Bigger numbers equate to more suction power, but the real magic is the 'CarpetFocus' tech. With intensive cleaning on, you can actually hear the engine shift gears when it hits the carpet. It ramps up to drag out the hairs, and combined with its zero-tangling brush system, the results were clear.

Another huge factor in this battle is its adaptability. The robot lifts itself to cross 40mm gaps, extending itself up and over room dividers. This meant no carrying it around (unless I went upstairs), ensuring every single room got cleaned despite the uneven floor levels in our home.

The robot vacuum also doubles up as a mopping robot. Using hot water and exendable pads that scrub right up to the skirting boards, floors are left thoroughly washed. You can vacuum and mop simultaneously, with the vacuum being smart enough to tackle carpets first or lift its mop to keep them dry. I found the "vacuum then mop" setting delivered the best results.

A quick tip: My unit defaulted to "pass over" carpets in the map settings. You might need to jump into the app to change it so it actually vacuums them instead. Otherwise, it just politely drives over your rugs without cleaning them.

The reality of 'hands-free' cleaning

It's not all "hands-free". While the cleaning itself is, the maintenance is not.

I did have to clear out the internals of the robot vacuum every week or two. It was not that big of a problem, but I want you to understand the audible "Oh my gosh" that came out of my mouth every time I did. It was a mix of awe and disgust at the sheer amount of fur it picked up.

While the base station handles the heavy lifting by emptying dust and washing mops, you are still the water manager. You need to refill the clean water and add the solution before a run.

Crucially, I would recommend emptying the dirty water tank soon after it finishes. If you forget it for even a day or two, the smell is unforgiving. It's like a grim reminder of just how much dirt it successfully scrubbed off your floors. The dock itself also collects grime over time, so you'll need to wipe it out periodically to keep things fresh.

Setting up the Narwal Freo app

As intimidating as the parts looked, the robot was intuitive to put together and set up. Make sure you keep the base station in a spot that the robot can easily get in and out of.

Connecting the robot to the Narwal Freo app is simple via Wi-Fi, and the robot mapped out my entire floor plan in one sweep. Map adjustments are customisable in ways that matter for the most part, albeit a bit limited at times. I didn't have too many troubles with this.

You can also schedule the robot vacuum for frequent or daily use, and the app also features a maintenance tracker for which parts need cleaning or replacing.

Tech troubles

It wasn't all smooth sailing. For a flagship device, the connectivity gave me a headache.

I experienced repeated issues where the app would lose connection to the robot on my Apple device (though Android phones seemed more stable). The workaround was switching from Wi-Fi to mobile data – an annoying quirk for an expensive machine.

Then there is the time commitment. A deep vacuum and mop of the downstairs rooms took upwards of 3 hours, often requiring the robot to return to the dock, fully recharge, and then head back out to finish the last quarter. If you have a smaller home, the battery is plenty, but for large layouts, you definitely want to schedule this for when you're out.

Rarely, the vacuum would get stuck under the dining room table. It pauses the task, but resuming the task usually fixes the trick, since how else did it get in there!?

I also ran into some odd software logic when cleaning my carpet upstairs. Despite only wanting to vacuum, the robot seemed restricted by its mopping zone logic. So I had to set it to vacuum in sections, rather than all in one go.

Finally, there is no auto-dispenser for the cleaning solution. You have to add it yourself, which feels a bit manual for such a high-tech system.

Final verdict: Is the Narwal Flow worth the cost?

Amazon | $2999Kogan | $2199Big W | $2199

Let's do the math. Based on the cleaning logs, if I assume a manual vacuum and mop takes about one hour, this robot has saved me 54 hours over the last 70 days.

That is just over two days of my life reclaimed. A weekend of celebration! So is it worth the price?

If you live in a small apartment or don't have pets, probably not. It's overkill. You can get away with a cheaper model, or spare the expense for your own manual labour.

But if you live in a larger house like mine, where the pets constantly shed, and the floor is always fighting a losing battle against dirt, this machine is a real game-changer.

Despite the tech troubles and the required maintenance, the mental load it removed is massive. The floors are clean, the pets are unbothered, and I have my weekends back.

So, to answer the question we started with: Yes, with a little extra care, Narwal's flagship robot vacuum survived this pet owner's house.

Our writer was provided the Narwal Flow Vacuum and Mop Robot for the purpose of this review.

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