Narwal Flow 2 120-Day Review: Great Mopping, but Hard-Floor Centric

This unit was purchased for personal use. This review is not sponsored, approved or otherwise affiliated with Narwal.

After four months of use in our home, the Narwal Flow 2 has proven to be one of the best robot vacuums we've used for hard floors, combining strong mopping performance with excellent obstacle recognition and one of the most useful AI cleaning modes available.

A Flagship Built Around Hard Floors

The Flow 2 builds on the track-style mopping system Narwal introduced with the original Flow.

Sixteen nozzles continuously feed water across its 10.5-inch FlowWash track mop, while a scraper removes debris as the mop rotates.

The Flow 2 measures about 3.7 inches tall and uses rear-mounted lidar, dual 1080p RGB cameras, structured light and Narwal's NarMind Pro obstacle-recognition system.

Narwal also rates the unit at up to 31,000 Pa of suction.

There is one important catch.

Maximum suction is limited to a special Ultra Boost mode that requires manually drawing a cleaning zone in the app. You cannot simply select maximum suction for a normal whole-home cleaning job.

That makes the headline suction number considerably less useful in everyday cleaning than it initially appears.

Mopping Is the Flow 2's Strength

Hard-floor mopping remains the biggest reason to buy the Flow 2.

Overall mopping performance was better than average during our testing, particularly with everyday dirt, footprints and light spills.

The continuously cleaned track means the robot isn't dragging the same dirty mop pad around the house, and the base station does an excellent job maintaining it without prematurely wearing out the mop pad.

After four months of use, there hasn't been any unpleasant odor that's developed on the microfiber track mop unlike some competitors.

The Flow 2 also used less water than we expected.

Even at higher settings, our hard floors weren't left excessively wet. That should be reassuring for owners with real hardwood flooring that may be more susceptible to moisture damage.

The mop roller can extend toward walls and baseboards. However, our unit rarely attempted to get near baseboards or under cabinets leaving a multi-inch gap during cleaning.

Grout lines were also a weakness.

The Flow 2 frequently left stuck-on dirt and debris inside recessed grout lines even when the surrounding tile looked clean.

Automatic detergent dispensing also returns with the Flow 2, fixing one of the more frustrating omissions from the original Flow.

The refillable detergent container works well, although refilling it from Narwal's larger detergent bottle can be messy. A small funnel helps prevent spills.

Narwal's lemon-basil detergent has a pleasant scent in the bottle, but it doesn't leave the room or flooring smelling heavily perfumed after cleaning.

Dried Messes Can Still Challenge It

The Flow 2 wasn't quite as impressive with dried-on debris.

Narwal says its cameras can identify stubborn messes and trigger additional scrubbing, including a reverse cleaning process.

That works reasonably well, but the Flow 2 failed to remove dried-on ketchup, mustard and cocktail sauce in FreoMind mode during our testing. By comparison, the Mova Z60 Ultra Roller Complete removed all three in just two passes.

One likely reason is mop pressure.

The Flow 2 applies up to 12 newtons of downward force compared with 17 newtons on the Z60.

The difference isn't dramatic during routine cleaning, but it becomes more noticeable when the robot encounters something that requires actual scrubbing.

Low Maintenance, but Not Cheap to Maintain

Narwal's decision to use a nonremovable onboard dirty water reservoir has also turned out to be a huge positive rather than a drawback.

As a user, there's no onboard dirty water tank to keep clean as the Flow 2 injects high-pressure water into an internal dirty water reservoir and uses an impeller to keep dirt and grime from clogging the unit.

Despite earlier concerns about how the process worked, we didn't encounter any apparent problems with buildup inside the system.

The removable washboard is another highlight. It's easy to remove and clean, and the dock does a good job flushing away dirt and debris collected from the mop during cleaning.

One word of caution: Narwal's official replacement accessories are more expensive than those from many competing brands. The basic Flow 2 maintenance kit costs $199, meaning replacement parts can add several hundred dollars to the long-term cost of ownership.

Vacuuming and Carpet Are Weak Points

Carpet is where the Flow 2's weaknesses become much more apparent.

Narwal has made a noticeable effort to improve carpet cleaning, including a pressure-plate brush guard with a rubber seal designed to create a tighter seal around the vacuum path.

But the results still fall short of a true deep clean.

Surface debris is generally handled well, but dirt embedded deeper in carpet fibers is left behind. The main roller simply doesn't provide enough agitation to consistently pull debris from deeper in the pile.

Quiet mode makes the Flow 2 impressively quiet, but cleaning performance drops substantially with it. We found it better suited for light maintenance cleaning than any situation where meaningful pickup is needed.

Area Rugs Cause Trouble

One of the more frustrating behaviors was how our Flow 2 repeatedly struggled with area rugs throughout our testing.

Our unit had a tendency to approach and vacuum rugs near the corner rather than crossing closer to the middle or another more securely anchored section.

That frequently caused the rug to curl, shift or become caught beneath the robot. We saw this on rugs placed over both hardwood and tile. A hallway runner with tassels was especially problematic.

There was another serious concern too. Narwal says the onboarding process prompts owners to configure how carpets should be handled. That wasn't our experience.

Detected carpets appeared on the map, but we had to manually choose whether individual carpets should be vacuumed, crossed or avoided.

That is an important setting because the average user is not going to know the Flow 2 may not be programmed to clean every carpet it detects out of the box by default.

Black Carpet Remains a Struggle

One of our biggest complaints about the original Flow also remains unresolved.

The Flow 2 will behave erratically or sometimes completely refuse to vacuum black carpet. Rather than recognizing the dark surface as carpet, our unit occasionally acted as though it were stuck, changing direction unpredictably or refusing to continue cleaning.

For a flagship robot vacuum, that's a glaring problem, particularly because it carried over from the previous generation.

Overall, we'd rate the Flow 2's vacuuming performance as average.

The Anti-Tangle Roller Works Well

Where the main roller does excel is hair management.

Narwal's signature anti-tangle main brush did an excellent job preventing hair from wrapping around the roller during our testing.

For homes with pets or long hair, it's one of the Flow 2's more practical hardware wins.

However, hair and debris can build up in the dust bin, wheels and scraper of the mop roller even when the main roller itself remains relatively clean.

We'd recommend checking these areas especially the pre-filter screen once a week for buildup and clogs.

FreoMind Is the Highlight

The best software feature on the Flow 2 is FreoMind.

Unlike many "AI" cleaning modes that simply remove control from the user, FreoMind makes its own decisions while still allowing customization.

It can automatically adjust suction, water usage, cleaning passes and routes based on what the robot detects, while users retain the ability to change how they want the system to behave.

That balance makes FreoMind considerably more useful than simply offering a one-button automatic mode.

Although we typically prefer manual modes, with the Flow 2 we consistently chose the FreoMind mode the most often.

Obstacle Recognition Is Excellent

Obstacle recognition is another highlight.

The Flow 2 successfully identified and navigated around many common household objects, including shoes, power cords, laundry, pet bowls and other clutter on both hard surfaces and carpet.

Its combination of cameras and structured-light sensors makes it one of the more capable Narwal robots we've tested around everyday obstacles.

Reflecting objects such as mirrors or chrome chair legs remain the exception.

There is one unusual limitation, however. The Flow 2's AI obstacle avoidance cannot currently be completely disabled.

Navigation Gets Better With Time

Our initial experience with navigation wasn't nearly as polished.

During early runs, the Flow 2 bumped into furniture, struggled with thresholds and occasionally tried to squeeze underneath furniture where clearance was questionable.

Mapping wasn't perfect either.

Our first map missed an interior wall, and room divisions required more manual correction than they should have.

But the Flow 2 noticeably improved as it continued cleaning.

Owners shouldn't necessarily judge navigation based on the first one or two runs.

It may take five to 10 cleaning cycles before the robot has properly learned a complicated home and can navigate it without getting stuck or logging an error.

Once the Flow 2 learns its environment, overall navigation becomes significantly better.

The Extending Side Brush Is Disappointing

The Flow 2 uses a single reversing side brush that can extend outward when cleaning edges and corners.

In practice, it isn't particularly effective.

The extension doesn't reach or sweep debris as consistently as similar systems from competitors, and the mechanism is surprisingly noisy. When it activates, the brush can produce a noticeable whipping sound.

The absence of a second side brush is also noticeable when cleaning larger dry messes. Instead of quickly funneling debris toward the main roller from both sides, the Flow 2 can scatter some material or require additional passes.

It's an odd weak point on an otherwise sophisticated cleaning system.

The App Needs a Redesign

Narwal's app continues to be one of the weaker parts of the overall experience.

It works, and the important controls are there, but the organization can be quirky and isn't as intuitive as apps from several major competitors.

Advanced users will also find fewer granular controls.

Auto-empty behavior is a good example.

Because the Flow 2 dries its dust bin, auto-emptying will occur at the beginning of the next cleaning job rather than immediately at the end of the previous one.

There is a technical reason for that behavior, but there aren't enough controls in the app to customize it.

It's particularly easy to forget when performing maintenance and opening the robot between cleaning cycles.

More granular controls over automatic emptying and other features would make the Flow 2 considerably easier to manage.

The Voice Assistant Is Surprisingly Capable

Narwal's built-in voice assistant was also better than expected, though the wake word is "Hey Narwa," not "Hey Narwal."

Instead of recognizing only a short list of specific phrases, it could understand commands in a more natural language as long as the wording was close enough.

Voice control is not a feature everyone will use, but it was reliable enough during testing to be genuinely useful rather than another feature listed on a box.

Some Design Choices Land, Others Feel Cheap

The redesigned base station is better than expected.

It's sleek and modern without being overly flashy, and the newly located dust bag compartment remains compact without interfering with the auto-empty system.

Not every part of the Flow 2 feels equally premium.

The removable ramp at the front of the base station feels noticeably cheaper than the rest of the dock. Ours would become loose randomly and have to be reattached.

The LED lighting is also mostly gimmicky. It looks nice, but customization is limited and it adds little practical value.

The Flow 2 also now comes in both black and white. The white version should fit better in homes where owners want the dock to blend into the room rather than stand out as a large appliance.

However, we personally prefer the older Freo-style base station. Narwal now actually sells the Freo 20, which offers many of the same core technologies in the Freo base station for less money, although it gives up automatic detergent dispensing and the CarpetFocus features.

A Good Robot for a Very Specific User

The Flow 2 makes much more sense when viewed as a hard-floor robot rather than a mixed-floor flagship.

Its mopping system is excellent.

FreoMind is one of the better implementations of AI-assisted cleaning we've used, obstacle recognition is strong, voice control is useful and the base station requires relatively little routine maintenance.

Carpet, however, exposes more of its limitations. It lacks the agitation needed for deep carpet cleaning, area-rug navigation can be frustrating and maximum suction isn't available during normal whole-home cleaning.

For homes dominated by hard surfaces, the Flow 2’s strengths outweigh most of its shortcomings. In fact, it is currently our top pick among flagship robot vacuums for engineered or real hardwood floors, where its more restrained water use and gentler scrubbing pressure is an advantage.

But for more water-tolerant surfaces such as LVP and tile, or homes with a significant amount of carpet, there are more versatile options available.

The Narwal Flow 2 retails for $1,499.99, and we've seen its price fluctuate between $1,249.99 and $1,499.99 outside of promotional sales.