Robot vacuums have come a long way over the past several years, with some of the most advanced models nowadays going well and beyond anything we thought they’d be able to do. But, in a lot of cases, they’re also still an eyesore in your home. After spending a couple of months with the Narwal Flow 2, though, that’s one of the biggest things that stood out – I actually rather like how this looks, and it doesn’t give up top-tier performance to do so.
Let’s start off with the design here, as I think it might be one of the biggest things Narwal Flow 2 has going for it.
The dock has this modern but subdued gray design that features a matte finish, sharp angles, and some nice lighting effects on the front. Unlike Narwal’s former all-white design language, this new look blends into its surroundings far better, while again just looking nice to the eye. The Roborock Saros 20 I reviewed earlier this year checks a lot of the same boxes, but I think Narwal wins on pure aesthetics. Two water storage tanks can be found on the top – one for clean water, the other dirty – and the dustbin neatly hides away underneath those.
The lights I mentioned serve a practical purpose – or at least they want to. Every core function shows a different lighting effect, but Narwal doesn’t explicitly tell you what these effects mean. There’s a purple-ish light when the robot docks which I assume just means it’s charging. There’s an orange light when the robot has been docked after cleaning which I assume is for the heated drying of the mops. I do wish Narwal did a better job explaining this, but it’s a cool effect nonetheless – it’s also completely optional and can be turned off. You can also turn it fully on, with purple, fireplace, and nightlight effects available in the app.
