Oasis Mini
Magnets under the sand move the ball that draws. Hackster: an order of magnitude apart in cost from the Sisyphus Mini.
Under the glass, one metal ball crosses white sand and leaves a pattern behind it. The creators' explanation is a magnet beneath the sand bed; the seller's, a small ball rolling through sand, carving patterns in its wake. Hackster.io's Gareth Halfacree, reporting at launch, describes the whole: a bamboo-and-glass body, a ring of RGB LEDs lighting the surface, and a metal ball driven by magnets, slowly inscribing patterns or pictures into soft white sand. A buyer on Shop can watch it for hours.
We don't earn if you buy · Why this matters
Oasis Mini, a 9-inch kinetic sand art canvas at $149: a magnet beneath the sand moves a metal ball through patterns chosen in a free app.
The argument
Why We Chose the Oasis Mini
Its creators say plainly that the Mini isn't the first kinetic art canvas to hit the market; as far as they know, though, it is the most affordable by a hefty margin, and they explain the price in two parts. The first is size. Torque is force times radius: the further the ball travels from the center of the circle, the more force it takes, and more force means bigger motors, more power and more money. At just over 9" across, the Mini gets by with smaller motors and less power.
The bigger saving, they say, is a motion system built from nothing but bearings. Moving things in a circle, they write, is generally easier and cheaper than moving them in a straight line, and small bearings are among the cheapest, most optimized mechanical parts ever made, because so many of them are used. To their own question, whether that makes the Mini cheaply built or short-lived, the creators answer no, and point to bearings made of materials like hardened steel. That answer is theirs to give: it is the design argument for the price, not a test of how long it lasts.
The fit
Who'll Love This
It lands between partners and on the big dates. Buyers' notes on the seller's page tell of giving it to a wife, one for an anniversary, one for Valentine's Day; a verified buyer's husband gave it as a Christmas present; others received it for a birthday, one reviewing it on Judge.me and one on Trustpilot. An App Store reviewer would buy 10 to give as gifts, on one condition: that its bugs get sorted.
Buyers also mark out who it fails, and that roster is shorter. One bought it for a father-in-law and kept it, deciding the app's problems would be too frustrating for him; it works again, that buyer adds, sometimes. And a gift tied to a date can miss it: one order missed Christmas and was set to miss a birthday as well, and the seller replied that the carrier had probably lost it. If she would struggle with an app, or the date cannot move, the record argues against it, and the warranty, when it comes to that, stays with whoever placed the order.
Perfect for someone who
- would happily watch a pattern draw for hours
- likes a fresh design every week
- would draw their own patterns and upload them to the app
Skip for someone who
- lives outside the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, where it ships
- needs the warranty in their own name: it is the original purchaser's, with no repair price abroad on record
- needs it by a date inside 7-14 business days of transit
- should not depend on an app account and Wi-Fi: try sand art in glass that needs no app
A kinetic sand art machine, as its owner community puts it; its creators call it a kinetic art canvas, Hackster a kinetic sand art system.
AdventurousHas a point of view
The Verdict
Most of the Mini's popularity is the seller speaking.
Most of the Mini's popularity is the seller speaking, and the delight under it is real. Its 50,000 shipped and its Best Sellers shelf are the seller's own; the platforms add Shop's monthly sales label and a campaign whose paid promotion is disclosed. What those cues cannot vouch for, owners can: across anniversaries, Valentine's Day, Christmas and birthdays, the record carries recipients loving it, in their own words or their givers'.
The rest of the risk stays with you. Transit alone can run 7-14 business days; the warranty is yours as the buyer, not hers; and she will run it from an app, with an account, on Wi-Fi, while owners report units failing, and replacements sent. Nobody has tested it independently, on this record, and no failure rate puts odds on any of it. Give it with time to spare, the invoice kept, to someone glad to live with an app.
The Story
The Oasis Story
The Oasis Mini started on Kickstarter, and its creators opened their pitch with a reason before a spec. Life gets stressful, they wrote, and people often find mental space in mindless scrolling and binging; they built the Mini to be a relaxing and accessible kinetic art canvas instead. Zach, one co-founder, wrote there about the anxiety behind the project, and the page speaks of sand as a beautiful but impermanent medium. The campaign asked for $5,000; over its 35-day funding period, 11,994 backers pledged $1,313,114, against an anticipated retail price of $149, and the campaign page itself discloses that the project was promoted by Jellop, which it calls the ad tech power behind the best Kickstarters. That early demand had paid promotion behind it, and the page says so.
At launch the creators described the design as a pre-production sample, its components already optimized and tested, and said the Mini would be globally sourced from factories meeting high ethical and environmental standards; no factory is named. The first deliveries are where the record splits. A backer whose comment sits pinned on the campaign called it worth the wait; an early-bird backer in Canada, braced for snags, received theirs later than the original timeline and praised the creators' many informative updates. Others say support tickets went unanswered, or that rewards never came, which the creators answered with a missing shipping survey or a payment problem. International backers were quoted about $24 for shipping and billed $35, with refunds offered and an apology for the estimate, and the seller now says it does not want to repeat the frustrations of those international orders.
The company's one-star reviews on Trustpilot carry its replies beside them, and none of the three that follow names the Mini. To a buyer who said nothing had shipped and no one could be reached, it posted its support address and asked twice for an order number; to one who had waited almost a year for a Father's Day present, it said pre-orders took longer than expected and the order looked delivered; to one who called the owner rude, it posted the support transcript in which that order was cancelled and refunded. Read them with what a company's Trustpilot score is good for in mind.
On the product page, the seller headlines "Proven Stress Relief" above a set of survey figures. Its own fine print says they are based on client survey and customer-reported data, and we repeat none of them.
What People Are Saying
By owners' accounts, it holds people: one can watch it for hours, another calls it the first thing guests notice, a third says everyone who sees it is mesmerized, and a backer was struck by how much detail the small ball draws out of patterns that look mostly white in the app. When frustration comes, it is with the app more than the drawing: amazing concept, frustrating app, one review is titled; great concept, unreliable execution, says another; and an owner whose app gets updated often calls it far from perfect, with a reward for a little patience.
"It’s the first thing guests notice! What I love even more is the customer service. An issue I had was resolved quickly and with zero hassle."
"This is so awesome and amazing how this works. I can watch it for hours. I love being able to change the lighting colors and how it flashes. I am using 2 bags of sand, it is giving the picture more depth and it is perfect. Worth every penny."
"I received an Oasis mini for my birthday it is a beautiful product and works brilliantly."
"The Oasis app gets updated often and for good reason. It is far from perfect and there are quite a few bugs, but if you have a little patience you're rewarded with a really cool decoration."
"Loved it first few days. The designs are incredible. Peaceful. Then it has been having trouble connecting."
Recognition
Featured in Hackster.io
“The Oasis Mini is far from the first sand-and-ball-based kinetic art device, of course — nor even the first with "mini" in the name.”
The Moment
Coming back into the room is the moment on record. One owner sets the Mini to pause between patterns, so that a drawing finished while nobody was there waits for them to walk back in. Another changes the design every Sunday. Between those two habits is the use worth giving it for: a finished drawing waiting to be found, and a new one to choose when the week turns over.
The Gift Scene
In the box, by the seller's list, come the Mini, pre-measured white sand, a power supply and cable, a glass cover, a sand rake card and one metal ball bearing. The seller gives its size two ways: 9" (234mm) across and 3" (76mm) high on the product page, 23cm (9.25") by 8.5cm (3") in its help center. It runs on USB-C from the wall, not on batteries, and is controlled from a free iOS and Android app; the help center says Oasis devices can be left on 24 hours a day. One ball runs at a time, and smaller balls, the seller notes, give slightly more detail on very fine patterns.
What keeps it changing is the pattern library, which the seller calls 100% free, with new patterns added monthly; its product page counts them as hundreds in one place and 100+ in another. Owners can make their own: the creators point to free tools for algorithmic designs and vector apps for illustrated ones, and one reviewer uploads their own designs into the app. The sand asks little, but precisely. One small packet, roughly 5 teaspoons, is the seller's measure, and too much can cover the LEDs and darken it; one owner runs 2 bags for depth. Extra sand and glitter are $7.99 each, sized only for the Mini. It never goes under running water, and the sand may need to come out to ship it or for repairs. A UK backer who spilled theirs could not order more, the backer says, because the UK was not shipped to then; the help center lists the UK now, and a Reddit thread asks about replacement sand in Europe.
Then come the reports no one has turned into odds. One owner's unit worked for 3 days and then could not reach the app; another drew most patterns wrong after an update; one stopped drawing its center, which support told that backer had happened to some initial units; another skipped the middle of its patterns. A reviewer found by trial that playlists over 20 designs will not play, a limit they say no manual mentions, and watched downloads hang at 1% and stop the pattern. For some, the connection came back after app updates. Several owners report replacements sent, and an Error 16 unit judged unrepairable was settled to its owners' satisfaction; one backer says a promised replacement never came. The app holds 4.4 from 3.1K ratings, and its release notes when we checked promised more reliable playlists and smoother updates. These are individual reports: there is no failure rate for the Mini on this record.
The Aftermath
Two reactions reach the record, both short, both through the people who gave it: after an anniversary, "She loves it!"; after Valentine's Day, "we BOTH love it."
The Message
Going where the numbers point is the message, and that is the status in it: the Mini arrives with a crowd behind it, though most of the figures describing that crowd are the seller's own. The calm in it is what its creators set out to make, something to look at in place of a scrolling screen: a drawing that is finished, left for a while, and swept into the next.
Every drawing in it is yours until the next one starts.
Who are you buying for?
The worry
Taking the page's 1 to 2 days to ship as the arrival date: the help center adds up to 48 hours of processing and 7-14 business days of transit.
Christmas
Your wife's Christmas present, if it arrives in time and keeps drawing
Christmas is a date it has to make, and it is for your wife. That is how one verified buyer came to own one, as a husband's fun Christmas present, and when it started having issues, the Oasis team helped troubleshoot the problem, and in the end sent a new one, which the owner loves too.
A spouse's Christmas present is the case this record holds closest: it went from a husband to a spouse, ran into trouble, and was troubleshot and then replaced by the company; the second one is loved as much. Christmas sits among the occasions owners report giving it for, beside anniversaries, Valentine's Day and birthdays.
That a fault would leave her stuck. The two-year warranty, from delivery, is yours as the original purchaser: keep the order number and invoice, and pay shipping both ways to the seller's facilities; a replaced part does not extend it. Owners report replacements sent.
Eventually, they sent me a new one - which I also love.
The bottom line
When the date leaves room for 7-14 business days of transit and she will happily run it from an app, it is a good bet, invoice kept for the warranty; when she lives outside the countries it ships to, or the date is close, it is not.
From our research
Asked how the ball moves, the campaign page gets as far as the magnet beneath the sand bed and stops: how do magnets work, it asks, and admits it can't help you with that one.
On location data, the company has said two things. Its creator told a backer it never collects or stores user location data; the App Store privacy label, as the developer declared it, lists Location among data that may be linked to your identity.
We hesitate over the service behind it. The app opens on an account log-in, setup joins it to Wi-Fi, and the company once told an owner to reboot after a temporary outage on its side. Nothing on record says whether it runs if that service ends.
A tap on the back button puts it to sleep for the night; opening the app wakes it. On noise, accounts split: whisper quiet to the seller, fine by the bed for one owner, a low hum or a squeal to backers.
Hackster set it beside the Sisyphus Mini, larger at 15" to its 9", and called the two an order of magnitude apart in cost. Sisyphus Industries lists its open-sided Essential Mini at $690; the Oasis Mini's regular price is $149.
The score
A ring of RGB LEDs under a glass cover, in the bamboo-and-glass body Hackster describes, and buyers' photos of it drawing in real homes; one owner calls the body solid and the hardware sturdy. The dead units and the one squeal owners report keep it from scoring higher.
A ball that draws by itself, moved by a magnet under the sand, at a cost Hackster puts an order of magnitude apart from the Sisyphus Mini; owners describe watching for hours. It is not a new idea, and the creators say so: kinetic art canvases reached the market first.
The exchange is strong: owners report it given for anniversaries, Valentine's Day, Christmas and birthdays, and a backer from the first wave found it worth waiting for. It stops at 8.0 because the warranty stays with the purchaser, one gift was kept back over the app, and one missed Christmas.
Judge.me: 4.77 from 324 reviews on the seller's own product page
Trust reads the Mini's own pool: 324 reviews at 4.77, verified-buyer badges on those we saw. The company's 3.8 on Trustpilot speaks to how it handles orders, so it sits in the record of conduct, not in this score.
The evidence
Why we trust this
The seller issues most cues: over 50,000 shipped and 50,000+ customers, one figure twice, and a Best Sellers shelf in its store. Shop's label counts 1K+ bought in the past month. The 324 reviews sit in a Judge.me pool the store invites and autopublishes. Trustpilot rates the company 3.8 from 58, notes no recent invitations, and shows replies to 94% of negative reviews. No hands-on independent test is on record; the one press piece is launch news.
The research behind this
20 verified claims from this product's record - last verified October 11, 2026
Rating and review data from
Quick facts
- Price
- $149
- Brand
- Oasis
- Category
- Desk Accessories
- Aesthetic
- Japandi
- Great For
- Anniversary, Birthday
- Gift Type
- Adventurous
- Type
- Consumable
Value
An order of magnitude apart in cost from the Sisyphus Mini, by Hackster's measure; Sisyphus lists its Essential Mini at $690, and the Mini's regular price is $149.
Common Questions
Does its popularity make the Oasis Mini a safe gift?
It explains the pull: a study of best-seller cues in gift buying found popularity cues work better for gifts, which feel riskier to buy. Here most cues are the seller's; the record backs recipients' delight, not arrival, warranty or app. It tested everyday goods in imagined purchases.
Does the Oasis Mini need Wi-Fi and an account?
Its setup does: the app opens on an account log-in, and the seller's steps join the Mini to your Wi-Fi network. Whether it runs without them, the record doesn't say. On location, the creator told a backer the company never collects or stores it; the App Store label, as the developer declared it, says it may be linked to you.
Will an Oasis Mini arrive in time for a gift date?
Count transit, not just the 1 to 2 days the page gives for shipping: the help center adds up to 48 hours of processing, then 7-14 business days by standard shipping or 2-5 expedited. Among the lowest-rated reviews, orders went missing or waited on the courier, and the seller pointed to carriers. Leave room before the date.
Can a gift recipient claim the Oasis Mini warranty?
Not on the seller's terms: the warranty extends only to the original purchaser, and service needs the order number and original invoice, which is how a warranty comes apart when the item is a gift. No recipient route is on record; owners report replacements sent.
Is the Oasis Mini quiet enough for a bedside?
The seller says whisper quiet, and a birthday owner runs it beside the bed without being kept awake. A backer hears a high-frequency squeal whenever it is plugged in, unsure if every unit does; another hears low humming; one faulty unit reached close to 50 DB until a new tray. The back button sleeps it.
Why is the Oasis Mini so much cheaper than Sisyphus?
Its creators give two reasons: at just over 9" across it can use smaller motors and less power, and its motion runs on nothing but bearings. Hackster put it an order of magnitude apart in cost from the larger Sisyphus Mini; Sisyphus lists its Essential Mini at $690. Most affordable, the creators say, as far as they know.
No more questions? Buy it for $149
How We Validated This
Last updated- Official Grounded Grounded Labs Grounded Kickstarter
- Reviews Judge.me Trustpilot Trustpilot
- Retailer Shop App Store
- Source Kickstarter
