I’ve had a Mantis X10 Elite training system for quite some time now and I’ve been trying to figure out how to write this review. It’s not easy to fully encapsulate what this little device can do. It’s an intimidating prospect, and my goal is to try and capture all the ways you can train with the Mantis X10 Elite, as well as how it improved me as a shooter.
The Mantis X10 Elite is the newest version from Mantis (see TTAG’s review of the original MantisX here) that is universal. It’s designed to work with handguns, rifles, shotguns, and even bows.
Previous versions included the X2 for rifles and pistol dry fire only. The X3 was the same, but allowed for live fire. The X7 was for shotguns and the X8 for bows.
The Mantis X10 Elite is the first version of this training tool that’s capable of working with all of them; bows, rifles, pistols, and shotguns for both live fire and dry fire training.
The X10 Elite module can attach to nearly any firearm with certain adapters and I’ve used it on numerous firearms, including a Polymer 80 GLOCK 17 (Which I rolled myself with 80 lower jig.), the SIG 556R, and the Benelli M4. I don’t own a bow, so that’s a gap in my testing.
What Is It?
The Mantis X10 Elite is a small that’s device designed to attach to a Picatinny rail. It can be used for dry fire, live fire, and even works on CO2 powered pistols. The attachment feeds information to the device of your choosing via Bluetooth.
The Mantis applications are available in a rifle/pistol app, a shotgun app, and a bow app. Inside the app, you can set up your firearm, how the device is oriented and how you are training with it.
The App
The Mantis app records and saves the information as well as the profile of the weapon the device is on. You can build and save different profiles for different guns and record your training with each firearm.
The training options include numerous drills, as well as basic open training. For the rifle and pistol app there is a basic marksmanship program that encourages you to try the different drills as well as to train daily.
The Shotgun app is aimed less at tactical shooting than it is shooting clay pigeons. It measures how you swing the shotgun and allows you to track your progress and practice skeet/trap without the ammo, range, or clay pigeons required. You can also evaluate your performance on a live-fire range.
I wish the Mantis X10 Elite and the shotgun app offered more tactical drills, but I can see how designing such drills around the device would be difficult for a shotgun when dry firing.
Overall the apps are very easy to install and use, and the tutorials are simple and quick to understand.
Mantis X10 Elite General Performance
The device is wonderfully stable. It hasn’t crashed, frozen shut down or missed shots and has counted every round I’ve fired.
The tiny Mantis X10 Elite unit attaches easily enough to the rail and stays in place without issue. The range from your gun will communicate with your device (usually a phone) seems to be decently far. I’ve set it on the range table outside of ten feet and it has always read my shots.
Measuring Performance
The Mantis system assigns you a score between 0 and 100 for each shot you take. Anything below 90 gives you a diagnosis and of what your issue could be (jerking the trigger, dipping, etc.).
A quick click gives you a second screen that better explaining the issue. I learned that I was pulling with my firing hand, something I had never even heard of until the Mantis X10 Elite diagnosed it.
After taking a shot you can examine various fields showing different data relating to that shot. This includes a graph with a red, blue, and yellow line. Blue shows the weapon’s movement as you line up your sights. Yellow is how your pistol moves while you pull the trigger. Red is the path your gun follows during recoil.
There is also a holster draw analysis program that doesn’t issue a score for your draw, but times it as well as the different phases of your draw. This includes the grip, pull, horizontal time, and trigger pull.
The Mantis X10 Elite and its various drills will most certainly spice up your dry fire training at home. The hostage-taker drill is a personal favorite, and the reload drill is timed which adds on a layer of stress.
On the range, you can get the same measurable performance. You can self-diagnose problems, and work to correct them.
How the Mantis X10 Improved My Shooting
The aforementioned pulling with my firing hand was fixed which lead to more consistent groups with the occasional low flyer. This was a nice improvement that I wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of.
Prior to using the Matis system, I just had the nebulous idea that I’d goofed somewhere, I just didn’t know where.
As far as handguns go, I was able to work on my recoil control and follow-through, which lead to faster and more accurate follow-up shots. When shooting a failure to stop drill the initial two shots from a double-tap are much closer together and my time to finish the drill decreased by a .15 of a second.
In general, my accuracy is improved by dry fire practice regardless, but the Mantis X10 Elite gives me feedback on even my slightest movements. Predictably I don’t shoot smaller handguns as well as I shoot larger handguns, and the Mantis X10 lets me know it. It’s a picky teacher, but those small discrepancies allowed me to get better, little by little, with guns like the SIG P365.
What if My Gun Doesn’t Have a Rail?
My P365 doesn’t have a rail on its traditional frame, so I was using an Icarus frame. However, if your gun doesn’t have a rail you do have options.
There is a small section of rail you can attach to your magazine’s base pad and mount the Mantis X10 that way. This works well and the results are just as good as if you’d used a traditional accessory rail.
Additionally, there is an attachment for shotguns and rifles without rails that allows you to tighten one down on your barrel.
Making Dry Fire Fun
The Mantis X10 makes dry fire practice so much more fun and gives you that extra challenge that makes that 15 minutes of practice fly by. I’ve been enjoying the marksmanship course and the challenge it provides.
The Mantis app and device work well and sync with each other without any issues. This high tech option has seemingly low tech levels of reliability. It’s taken the abuse of a lot of 9mm, 5.56 and a little 12 gauge here and there.
With so many of us stuck at home these days, I can’t think of a better time to give the Mantis X10 Elite, or any of the Mantis devices a good hard look.
Specifications: Mantis X Elite Training System
Length: 1.3 inches
Width: 1 inch
Height: .75 of an inch
MSRP: $249.99
Ratings (out of five stars):
Reliability * * * * *
It’s never missed a shot for me and never failed to provide real-time feedback regardless of practice type…live or dry fire. It doesn’t shut off, and the app hasn’t crashed in all times I’ve used it.
Ergonomics * * * * *
The device has one big button and a clip that’s pulled down to allow it to slide up and down rails. It’s simple, and best of all it doesn’t change the ergonomics of your gun in any way. That’s what really counts with these devices.
Durability * * * * *
It’s been on and off tons of guns and rails and keeps on clicking. The Mantis X10 Elite has held up to use and recoil without issue.
Overall * * * * *
I can’t suggest the Mantis X10 Elite enough. Its ability to measure your strengths and progress is reason enough. The standard drills, precise measurements, multiple-use design, and easy-to-use design makes it a wonderful training device in my eyes.
What weapon light model is needed to allow a gun to be holstered?
Just about any should work. The module is tiny. I mainly use a G19 holster for an APLc. Of course, the holster needs to secure on the pistol instead of the light.
You can mount a small pic rail to your magazine base (adhesively or with their base replacmeents), and it will work in your standard holster
Nice write-up! Sadly being laid off pemits no $$ for toys, snap-caps will have to work for me.
we call them reservoir tips, but you you.
Would love to see a comparison to The DriFire Laser Firearm Training System which has been a recently TTAG sponsored content.
I use a laser cartridge in combination with the original Mantis. I don’t have the fancy targets but you can always use a normal paper target and an old cell phone camera to video where you hit in comparison to the data that the Mantis provides.
They’re not really comparable. I have an original MantisX, an X10, and several laser target trackers. I also have a SIRT and different laser cartidges.
The Mantis is accelerometer based and mainly evaluates trigger pull in either dry or live fire. It measures what movement is happening and tries to suggest corrections, but it can’t tell where you were intending to shoot and score on a target. The Mantis x10 has other features, like holster draw, shot timer, etc. Theoretically, you could gain much of the functionality by focusing on your front sight, but this is more sensitive and easier for live fire.
Commercial systems, like DriFire, LaserAmmo, Laserrange, LaserLyte and others use a laser and camera or laser detecting target to tell you where the hits are. For the most part, it’s like evaluating your grip/trigger pull based on your grouping on the target. If you consistently have a bad technique that you compensate for, like putting in too little finger but aim an inch to the right, it won’t show anything negative. Similarly, if the sights shoot low for the range you’re using, it might misdiagnose perfect grip/trigger pull. Some systems do track the movement of the laser if it’s on while you have movement (shows a line instead of a dot).
There are also free versions of the laser target software, like ShootOff and HomeLess if you want to brew your own using a PC and camera. For the laser target systems, I prefer the IR ones that prevent the student (or me) from from walking the laser onto the target. LaserRange is much more expensive setup, but the target is video, and you can do shoot/don’t shoot, simulated steel challenge, moving targets, etc.
While I like the idea of this being a helpful training tool (in theory), what keeps me from seriously considering it is its inherent lack of security. Because it is an app that utilizes a Bluetooth connection to “devices”- it is not secure.
Nothing that connects to the internet is secure. Nothing. Period.
I am not comfortable with a device that records my location, my actions, my firearms, my performance, and all of the “other” personal data that one will be be required to volutarily “give up” to the company (e.g. to the internet/gov’t/hackers, etc.) in exchange for being alowed to use their app (read the fine print).
If the data was one-way (from the device diractly to me- and only me), then I’d be interested. But, alas, too many today suffer from a universally-embraced acceptance of “convenience” which requires a two-way data connection that not only cannot be made secure, but by design the technology automatically shares all colected data in ways (and to recipients) unknown by the consumer. We are asked to simply “trust” that all data is being used “privately” and “securely” and ignore the fact it transmits through an internet that cannot be made secure. Sure. Sounds reasonable to me, that’s exactly where I want to give all of my most private informaton/data- especially my firearm use data. How could that ever be used against me?
It’s not that people are dumb, it’s just that so many choose not to be smart.
If you’re paranoid, you could disable everything except Bluetooth while you’re using it. If you’re that paranoid, you should be in airplane mode or turned off if you are going to a gun store or range so “they” don’t know where you’re going and how long you stay, and only pay with cash while you’re there. You should also be using a VPN to access this or any other gun related site (not using a smart phone).
You can use the Mantis mostly offline and it doesn’t request access to location info. At that point it’s about the same risk as posting on this blog.
“Because it is an app that utilizes a Bluetooth connection to “devices”- it is not secure… Nothing that connects to the internet is secure. Nothing. Period.”
Bluetooth is not the internet.
Correct, Bluetooth is not the internet- but it connects devices that use apps that require internet access.
Nothing with internet access is secure. Period.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with the product being reviewed here, I am just pointing out that most people either ignore, don’t understand, or are simply in denial about the fact that the technology that provides them “convenience” also provides them with ZERO control over any/all information they “voluntarily give up” when using the technology.
Some care, most don’t, and many simply have no clue just how insidious “smart” technology really is (want an example?- research COVID-19 digital surveillance). I am aware, I care. and therefore I choose to limit my exposure (to both surveillance and COVID-19). Sure, I “surf” the web, but I do so with the full understanding that everything I search, look at, comment on, etc. is being tracked, recorded, and manipulated in a way that, honestly, should legally require a Miranda warning. I have a cell phone, but it does not connect to the inernet (it’s a phone, camera, and text device only), I use a compter (minitor, keybord, etc.) to do “computer” things- not my phone. Do I know that that my phone is being surveilled against my will? Yes, I do. By design, there is no way to make a smart phone “dumb”- the powers that be don’t want anyone to be free from their surveillance (that’s where all the money and power is). But I do not give them permisson to do it- it is without my consent. This is where having priciples comes into play.
How do I live like this? Easy. For more than half of my life there was no “Internet”* it was neither needed or required… and life was just great. I choose to live in reality- alll it takes is the discipline to choose principle over convenience. Younger people have a harder time with this because they have been programmed to not only accept, but to even love, and depend on- the Matrix.
Supporters of the 2nd Amendment tend to respect our Consitution and are typically not averse to educating themselves. A lot of what one reads here on TTAG is an example of that. One would think that TTAG followers would not be inclined to indiscriminately provide evidentiary-level details on every firearm they own, their GPS cordinates, the ammo they have in each firearm, account for every single round fired, how they performed during every shot, and just for good measure allow real-time access to all of the information in their smartphone (contacts, mail. texts, photos, etc.) to anyone who wants it. Well, that’s precisely what happens when using apps and internet-connected devices.
I’m simply reminding people that it’s very easy to forget (or ignore) the fact that the above scenario is exactly what can happen when using an app like the one reviewed here. Just be situationally aware, folks.
And I recommend taking the red pill.
I have one and they made a custom code for me to practice 3gun shotgun reloading drills with my beretta 1301.
Thank you for this review; I have been looking to upgrade my home-based training.
I just sent my brother (trapped in New Jersey) a LaserBullet Pro Kit. He received it yesterday; waiting for his review.
To make this complete, I need info on CO2 powered pistols (e.g. Cool Fire Trainer).
What are the choices?
Since I plan on using it with my defensive pistol, I don’t want it to risk damage, excessive wear, nor void warranty.
They are for Glock for Sig only. I went to the website.
(sad)
What about L.A.S.R.?
Really need an article doing a comparison matrix of the choices.
LASR is dry fire only. It will draw tails for the hits if you have a laser that will be on when the movement happens, like a SIRT pistol that turns on the laser for as long as the trigger is held. Snap cap type lasers are momentary, and it depends on model for how long the laser it on. Distance from target also matters since the further away you are, the longer the tail will be and the easier for it to show. LASR lets you use anything as a target — you just draw a virtual box around it, and there’s purchasable plugins for some standard targets to do it automatically. I have “classic,” which is PC only and will draw the tails, but it doesn’t suggest what to do to correct it. LASR X, which is the same cost and runs on phones too, supposedly has an advanced diagnostic feature, but I don’t have it and haven’t used it. If you already have a laser, you can get a monthly subscription to LASR X for $9 and see if you like it.
I know it’s designed with a 9mm in mind or a larger caliber. But what about a 22 caliber beretta 21a? Or a 32 kel tek? A SCCY 9mm doesn’t have a rail either. It would be interesting to see if they work on more guns without a rail. Which are most guns made today. Also there are millions of guns in circulation that were made before the idea of having a rail under a gun barrel. Especially revolvers.
Mantis will work for dry fire, so it will work for low recoil calibers. They have a bunch of magazine base plates with sections of picatinny rail, and they have one that attaches with double stick tape if it’s not on the list, like the ones you mentioned. The problem of course is that you can’t do mag changes.
As the article states and as a picture shows there are rails that can be temporarily attached to magazine base plates to mount the Mantis too.
Mantis will work for dry fire, so it will work for low recoil calibers. They have a bunch of magazine base plates with sections of picatinny rail, and they have one that attaches with double stick tape if it’s not on the list, like the ones you mentioned. The problem of course is that you can’t do mag changes.www.self21.com
I don’t understand how this works with a holster.
My carry/conceal holsters do not have room for anything on an accessory rail.
tnx a lot
plz share video about guns between your content about guns