Lowdesk Pro VS marinamantra Flow: The Ultimate Floor-to-Standing Desk Comparison

Floor to standing desks are seriously niche, but they’re also kind of underrated. If you think about it, they basically do what a regular standing desk can do, and then some. Think of them as Standing Desk… Plus.

In the last couple of years, we’ve tried and tested what are possibly the only two real contenders for a full-time floor to standing desk. Today, we pit them against each other for a showdown of epic proportions.

In the red corner, we have the vanguard of the space: The Lowdesk Pro, formerly known as Uppeal.

And in the blue corner, we have the new challenger: the Flow Desk from marinamantra.

🟦Flow Desk vs 🟥Lowdesk; who will come out on top in this contest? Let the battle begin.

First, let’s consider design.

The Lowdesk Pro is close to how you would imagine a standing desk to look like. There’s a bit of that practical, heavy machinery aesthetic to it. It doesn’t offend, but it doesn’t stand out either.

We had to purchase and install our own cable tray. We didn’t spend too much time organizing the cables perfectly, which is why we usually try to avoid filming the underside of the desk. Other than that, there isn’t much else to highlight.

The Flow Desk, on the other hand, has less hard edges, and the wooden tabletop paired with grey felt covers give it more of a warm and considered vibe. The grey felt covers hide cables, along with housing a built-in tray at the back to manage power strips and additional cable (although it’s not the most spacious and could be a bit of a tight fit if you have bulkier power bricks).

Further adding to the clean aesthetic, the Flow Desk has its power cables routed inside of the legs, with the power outlet near the bottom. This means no ugly dangling cables, which is a really nice touch. On top of that, the Flow Desk has conveniently placed built-in power outlets, one in the front of the desk and one in the back.

So if you’re obsessed with having neat cable management, then you’ll most certainly be happier looking at the Flow Desk from all angles compared to the Lowdesk Pro.

Looks are subjective, but in our opinion, the Flow Desk has a more refined and cohesive design.

🟦 marinamantra Flow takes the round in the design department.

That said, this cohesive design comes at a small cost. At the moment, the Flow Desk is not customizable. It comes in one size, two different colors, and you can’t just order the legs and slap your own tabletop on it.

With the Lowdesk Pro, you could. If you don’t like their tabletop options — from laminated tabletops to bamboo and wood, as well as different sizes — then just get the legs and complete the desk with your own.

In fact, if you’re outside of the US, you might just have to do that. Because as of the last update we heard, Lowdesk no longer ships tabletops internationally. So that could be a pro or a con depending on your needs.

🟥 Overall, the Lowdesk Pro offers more flexibility in configuration.

One of the main inconvenience of the x-frame style legs of the Flow Desk, is that there’s less legroom compared to traditional straight column legs. This is especially true when the desk is at the lower settings, and you won’t be able to stretch or straighten out your legs in front of you.

You won’t have that issue with the Lowdesk Pro. So if you like to sit with outstretched legs, then this is definitely something to consider.

🟥 The Lowdesk Pro wins comfortably with much more spacious legroom.

However, the x-frame style legs is what allows the Flow Desk to go lower than the Lowdesk Pro, which is important if your primary objective is to use it as a floor desk.

Both of these options have a similar amount of travel — we measured 82 cm with the Flow Desk and 80 cm with the Lowdesk Pro. While it may be just a 2cm difference, at their lowest, the Flow Desk measures 37cm (14.6”), which is 5cm lower than the Lowdesk Pro’s 42cm (16.5”).

If you’re of average height, this could be the difference between the desk being usable or not usable without a floor seat.

In our case, the Flow Desk is borderline usable for us without a floor seat, whereas we wouldn’t want to use the Lowdesk Pro without one. It is rare for us to sit at our desk without an elevated floor cushion, so this is not a deal breaker, but a lower minimum height is nice to have, and could be the difference maker for some.

🟦 marinamantra Flow has a small but significant advantage of going 5cm lower.

If you’re more concerned about speed though, then you may like to know the Lowdesk Pro is quite a bit faster than the Flow Desk.

On top of moving vertically, the legs on the Flow Desk have to move laterally as well, so some speed is lost there.

In a head-to-head comparison moving from 42cm to 109cm, the Lowdesk Pro took 18 seconds to complete the adjustment, while the Flow Desk took 28 seconds. That’s about 35% slower (and with a lighter setup) on the Flow Desk.

To be frank, we’ve never been bothered by how long it takes either of these desks to go up and down, but we can understand how some people may not want or have the patience to wait for that extra few seconds whenever adjusting the desk.

🟥 If you have a need for speed, the Lowdesk Pro is the swifter pick.

But with speed, comes noise.

The Lowdesk Pro surprised us a little with the motor noise the first time we operated it. It’s not obnoxiously loud, but because we were trying a standing desk in a quiet environment for the first time, the noise was something that stood out. (It doesn’t bother us in subsequent day to day use; just something we observed.)

The Flow desk on the other hand, also surprised us in the noise department. It is super quiet! At the bottom of its operational height, the desk is practically silent. When our fans are running, and cars are going by outside, we can barely hear the desk moving. As it enters the upper half of its operational range, the volume gets a tiny bit louder, but you have to be paying attention to hear it.

🟦 The Flow Desk sounds as gentle and refined as it looks.

The difference in stability between the two desks isn’t huge, but the difference is there.

The Lowdesk Pro feels slightly more stable throughout its entire operating range. It’s rock solid at lower settings, and as it goes higher, it understandably loses some of that stability. (Again, keep in mind that we have a heavier setup on the Lowdesk Pro.)

The Flow Desk actually feels like it maintains its stability a bit better going from floor desk to standing desk. (i.e., it loses less of its stability even as desk height increases)

The issue is, it’s not as rock solid starting from the lower settings compared to the Lowdesk Pro. This actually makes us wonder if any instability we experienced with the Flow Desk might have something to do with the lack of microadjustments on the desk feet to negate the effects of uneven floors. The Lowdesk Pro has these microadjustments, so this feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity for the Flow Desk.

Both desks are stable enough for how we use them, but we’ll have to give the edge in stability to the Lowdesk Pro.

🟥 The Lowdesk Pro wins in terms of stability.

As of this video, the Flow Desk is priced at USD1049, while the Lowdesk Pro starts at USD1300 with a laminate tabletop, USD1350 with a bamboo tabletop, and up to USD1900 for one with a wooden tabletop.

In short, the Flow Desk is the more affordable option.

Both offer free shipping for customers in the US, and as of the last update we received, marinamantra doesn’t ship internationally while Lowdesk does — at least for the desk legs — although international shipping could be quite costly.

🟦 marinamantra Flow is the more affordable option.

The Flow Desk uses a touch panel embedded in the desk surface itself. It's sleek and feels premium. The display turns off when not in use, so it doesn't clutter the workspace visually. However, some have noted that it occupies valuable desk real estate, which is a fair criticism. But otherwise, we found it to work well and responsively.

The Lowdesk Pro goes with a traditional physical control panel and tactile buttons. It can be mounted on either the left or right side of the desk, a touch of flexibility that the Flow Desk doesn't offer. The buttons are clearly labelled and satisfyingly tactile, although the panel itself, which is made of plastic, flexes slightly when pressed.

Here's where things get a little ironic, though.

The Lowdesk Pro's physical buttons require clear intent to depress, but you actually need to hold it for a brief moment before the desk registers the input. There’s really little to no risk of accidental triggers, so we thought the experience could have been better if the desk responds immediately to a button press.

The Flow Desk's touch panel, on the other hand, responds instantly to a light tap. This almost makes it too responsive at times and could cause accidental triggers. Which is why we feel like holding a touch button for a short moment before activating would make more sense on the Flow Desk.

Both desks take different approaches to their control schemes, and each has its merits and drawbacks, so not much separates the two in this round.

Ultimately, there isn’t a clear winner in this contest. The question is, what do you value more in your desk?

If you’re looking for a floor to standing desk, either of these could work. But depending on your specific needs, you may want to pick one over the other.

For a deeper dive into either option, we've covered both the Lowdesk Pro and marinamantra Flow individually in their respective articles. Take a look at them if you'd like more details.

If you found this helpful and are thinking of picking one of these up, consider using our affiliate links (which will also get you a discount at checkout!).

Shop Lowdesk (Use our link for USD100 off)

Shop marinamantra (Use code “THOUGHTWORTHY” for USD75 off)

Disclaimer: We were sent both floor to standing desks by Lowdesk and marinamantra, and they have sponsored a video in the past. However, all thoughts and opinions are our own, and this article is not part of a collaboration.