Narwal V50 Cube review: a self-emptying stick vacuum with brilliant smart features

Narwal V50 Cube: two-minute review

For its first stick vacuum, Narwal did a great job with the V50 Cube. It launched in November 2026 as an extremely lightweight and cordless stick vac with an extendable wand and a dock that does more than charge and auto empty. Over the course of two weeks, I used the vacuum to clean debris from my laminate and hardwood floors, the cobwebs in my windowsills, and dust from my ceiling.

Even with just a maximum 28,000 Pa suction (I’ve tested robovacs with more power), the V50 Cube did pretty well cleaning fine and thick materials, especially on my rugs. Most of the time, I used the AI or auto mode (and sometimes the turbo mode) as the eco mode wasn’t as effective.

The only time the vacuum struggled with a cleaning task was suctioning Cheerios from my hard floors. Other than that, I was very satisfied with its performance thanks to its dirt detecting capabilities which increased the suction power when debris was detected. I even appreciated the aqua headlight that showed me exactly where to clean as it magnifies dust more so than a regular white headlight. The front edge cleaning was poor, but at least the side edge cleaning was anywhere between zero and half an inch.

The charging dock auto empties the dust and debris and reverses the brush roll to prevent tangling. The two-in-one crevice tool is hidden away inside the dock when not in use. There, you’ll also find an extra battery that is always charged and ready to go. This is good since one battery only lasts seven minutes on turbo, 20 minutes on AI or auto mode, and 55 minutes on eco mode.

There are other little details about the design that’s amazing like how it automatically lowers a brush plate when cleaning a carpet to pull more dust and debris – or the way it’s outfitted with a manual scraper to pull off residue stuck in the dust cup. Sure, there are some drawbacks, like how the vacuum head and wand buttons sometimes stick or the crevice tool fell off a few times, but when weighing the pros and cons, I believe there is a lot of value in this vacuum and a promise from Narwal of more to come.

Narwal V50 Cube: price and availability

• List price: $649.99 (about £480 / AU$930)
• Launched: November 2026
• Available: US, Canada, China, and selected EU countries (Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Belarus)

The Narwal V50 launched in November 2026 with a price tag of $649.99, becoming the brand’s first stick vacuum in the US. That works out at roughly £480 / AU$930, but it’s not currently available in the UK or Australia. It is, however, being sold in Canada, China, and the EU.

You may also be able to find it more cheaply in one of Narwal’s regular sales. Despite its recent release, at the time of writing it has received a $150 discount in Narwal’s Black Friday deals, bringing its price down to $449.99.

The relatively high price tag comes from the fact that the vacuum has sensors that detect floor type and dirt. It’s also sold with a charging base with auto-empty features, and an extra battery that doubles your battery life. Considering these features, I’d say the price makes sense.

Narwal V50 Cube: specs

Narwal V50 Cube: design

• Extremely lightweight cordless vacuum that maneuvers easily
• Aqua headlight magnifies dust, dirt, and debris
• AI capabilities sense floor types and dirt

As Narwal’s first stick vacuum, the V5 has a lot going for it in terms of its design. The black and gray vacuum is modern, sleek, and compact. After pulling it from the base, I have to extend the wand to make it more comfortable to use (I’m 5’5”). The buttons on the vacuum can stick when it comes to removing the vacuum head or the handheld from the wand, but I never had an issue with the extension button. Unfortunately, the vacuum can’t stand on its own, but it can lie 180 degrees flat.

At only 3lbs., the V50 is super lightweight, which made it easy for me to move the vacuum across my floors or hold it up high above my head to clean ceiling corners. The vacuum head is 9.5 inches wide and it’s maneuverable without being uncontrollable, allowing me to clean around chair legs easily.

The grip on the vacuum is very comfortable with the power button and mode switch button in easy reach. A small screen shows the mode and battery life displayed as an icon. When in AI auto mode, the display screen has a curved line to highlight the dirt level. Purple tells you that the floor is clean, while red indicates unseen dirt.

I’ve always been a fan of headlights on vacuums, but this one really takes the cake. The aqua light covers 145 degrees, magnifying every bit of dust on your floor. It works very well in tandem with the AI DirtSense technology which detects dust and dirt, thereby automatically increasing the suction power. The AI technology senses rugs or carpets and lowers a brush plate to create a seal to better pull dust from the fibers of the carpet.

The charging dock is one of the most compact ones I’ve seen — and definitely ever tested. In fact, the vacuum won’t fit on the dock unless you unextend the wand. The charging dock automatically removes dust and debris from the dust cup into a sealed bag that holds up to 100 days’ worth of dirt. Dual H13 HEPA filtration and UVC+ Silver Ion Sterilization ensure that the dust stays locked away.

Narwal also added an anti-tangle hand tool to the dust cup that scrapes away tough residue. There’s a scraping ring under the vacuum that prevents hair or thread wrapping. And when you place the vacuum on the dock, the brush roll undergoes reverse rotation to flush everything out into the dust bag.

Behind the front panel of the dock, there’s a compartment that holds the 2-in-1 crevice tool and another one that charges an extra battery. I really admire that Narwal created a space to hide the accessory and the battery in the dock — something that not enough brands do in my opinion. My only critique would be to have the front panel placed on a hinge in the future.

Setup took no time at all. I added the wand and the vacuum head to the handheld, charged it up, and started cleaning.

Narwal V50 Cube: battery life

• 20 min on auto mode, 55 min on eco mode, and 7 min on turbo mode
• Extra battery stays charged in the charging base
• Took about two hours for the vacuum to fully recharge

The Narwal V50’s battery life differs depending on which mode you use and the dirt level of your floors. In my testing, the eco mode lasted the longest at 55 minutes, while the battery on turbo mode lasted only seven minutes.

The battery died on AI mode, or the dirt detection mode, after 20 minutes. In that time, I was able to clean about three quarters of the hardwood floors in my home, however, I was moving fast to achieve that. My floors were particularly dusty and dirty, so I’m not surprised that the battery lasted only 20 minutes. Each time the vacuum recognized dirt or dust, it increased the suction which used more power. To that effect, you may see the battery life adjust a bit depending on if you’re using the vacuum on carpet or hardwood floors, as carpet or rugs will cause the vacuum to increase the suction.

The battery life is quite average compared to others, and I wish it lasted a bit longer on the dirt detection mode. However, the cool thing about this vacuum is that it comes with a backup battery that always stays charged in the charging base. So whenever the battery dies, I can grab the other battery, fit it to the Narwal V50 and continue cleaning. It effectively doubles the battery life of the vacuum, allowing you to clean way more at once.

The vacuum took about two hours to recharge on the dock.

Narwal V50 Cube: performance

• Powerful carpet suction, with decent edge cleaning
• Headlight and auto dirt detection work together to pick up dust and debris
• Very lightweight and nimble for cleaning floors or high spaces

The Narwal V50 is a fascinating vacuum. With a turbo suction power of only 28,000 Pa, it’s not the strongest vacuum I’ve tested, and yet, it performed surprisingly well in a lot of ways. I used the vacuum to clean my floors as I normally would, and ran a few tests to see how well it suctioned a variety of materials on different floor types.

One of my favorite aspects of this stick vacuum is its lightweight nature and the smaller vacuum head size. It’s so nimble and twists and turns easily so I could clean around a lot of my furniture without having to move it. The aqua headlight magnifies dust and debris considerably. (I was astounded by how much dust collects on my floors daily!) The ability to lie 180 degrees flat was a big bonus and because the vacuum head and the wand are so thin, I was able to clean under a dresser that I’ve never been able to reach with any other vacuum I’ve tested.

I was very satisfied with how the vacuum picked up dust and debris on the turbo mode and AI or auto mode. I used the V50 most days to pick up food droppings in my kitchen or to clean up dirt I trekked into my mudroom. I was also very glad that I could break down this vacuum and use it as a handheld with the 2-in-1 crevice tool to clean cobwebs from my ceilings and windows or dust from my base boards. I should note that the crevice tool fell off the wand a few times. I even struggled to remove the handheld from the wand too.

The eco mode performed better with the vacuum head on the body of the vacuum (rather than as a handheld), but I doubt I will use that mode from herein out since the suction power was quite low.

Edge cleaning wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. There was about an inch along the front edge of the vacuum. The side edge cleaning was better, ranging anywhere from 0.5 inches to no space along the side. Unfortunately, I never figured out why the side edge cleaning was not consistent.

To test the Narwal V50, I laid out Cheerios, rice, baking soda (on a rug), and flour (on hard floors) on my different floor types and used the AI dirt detect mode to see how well the vacuum picked up these materials. The vacuum performed perfectly on the rug, suctioning everything in a single go.

The hard floor results were not as good as the rug test. The Narwal V50 appeared to pick up all the flour from the hard floor, but there was a slight film of flour left behind that required the turbo mode to completely remove. While the vacuum picked up all the rice in a single pass, it struggled with the Cheerios. At first, it picked up some of the Cheerios, but after that, the vacuum just pushed the Cheerios forward. Even when I moved the vacuum head slower, I was only able to suction a few more Cheerios, which still left about five behind on the floor.

No matter what, I can’t praise the convenience of the charging base and its auto-empty capabilities. I love the ease of being able to put the vacuum on the base and going about my day, knowing that it suctions all the dirt and dust and keeps it fully contained until it needs to be replaced. The manual scraper tool inside the dust cup of the vacuum is also quite unique in that it removes stubborn residue that the suction power of the base might not be able to do on its own. I haven’t seen that with other vacuums so that’s a great maintenance feature.

I would by no means rely on the Narwal V50 to be your go-to vacuum to clean carpeted rooms. It’s great for cleaning rugs, but it doesn’t have the suction power to handle a house with mostly carpet. Instead, I’d utilize it as a quick-cleaning tool to pick up scraps of food, random bits of dirt, dust from your windowsills, or pet hair that clumps under furniture. It would also be a good choice for smaller homes or apartments.

Should you buy the Narwal V50 Cube?

Buy it if

You want a vacuum that helps you to pick up dust you can and can’t see.

The aqua headlight magnifies dust so you know exactly where to vacuum in your house. And if you can’t see the dust or dirt? The Narwal V50’s AI DirtSense technology sees the dirt you cannot and increases the suction power automatically.

You want something lightweight to clean in all spaces.

The Narwal V50 is only 3lbs, making it easy to maneuver around your house. You can lay it flat to clean under beds or use it with the crevice tool to clean spider webs and dust above your head.

You hate doing vacuum maintenance.

Set the V50 on its base and the dock will not only charge the vacuum but detangle the brush roll and automatically empty the dust and dirt into a HEPA filter bag. Bonus: the base charges an extra battery and hides the two-in-one crevice tool away.

Don’t buy it if

The Narwal V50 did a great job during my rug test, however, a 28,000 Pa suction power isn’t high enough for deep cleaning of carpeted rooms. An upright vacuum will do a better job.

You want to clean the whole house on a single charge

Depending on which mode you choose, the charge of a single V50 battery lasts only 20 minutes on AI mode, which probably won’t clean a medium or large house. Thankfully, Narwal included a second battery that’s always charging in the dock, but if it feels like too much of a hassle to switch, then you’d do better to find a stick vacuum with a longer singular battery life.

The front edge cleaning of the Narwal V50 is within an inch, which isn’t ideal for cleaning some areas of your house. The side edge cleaning is better but not consistent, resulting in a side edge cleaning within zero to half an inch.

Narwal V50 Cube: also consider

If the Narwal V50 Cube isn’t the right vacuum for your home, here are two other options that you should consider:

This cordless vacuum auto-adjusts for use on carpet, and delivers outstanding cleaning. A better choice than the V50 Cube if you have more carpet than hard flooring.

Read our full Shark PowerDetect Cordless review

If you want to get right up to baseboards and furniture, Dreame’s V20 Pro is one of the best vacuums around for edge cleaning.

Read our full Dreame V20 Pro review

How I tested the Narwal V50 Cube

Over the course of a few weeks, I tested the Narwal V50 in my 1,600-square-foot house outfitted with historic hardwood and laminate floors and two large rugs. I used the vacuum to clean my floors, windowsills, baseboards, and ceilings, noting how it suctioned fine dust and large debris. After running multiple tests, I got a great sense of the battery life, maintenance required, and ease of use.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners.