Mantis X10 Elite Review: The Best Firearm Training System for Dry Fire and Live Fire

The Mantis X10 is a shooting performance tracker. The X10 will track your shots like a watch tracks your steps and other metrics. The X10 is a Fitbit for your gun, tracking and monitoring your progress as you train and giving you the necessary information for you to improve your skill level. 

The X10 can be mounted on your firearm during dry or live-fire training. If you are using a CO2 Gun, we have special settings for that type of firearm. The goal of the X10 is to build your fundamentals during the time you are unable to make it to the range. Then, use it to reinforce those skills when you make it to the range and practice with ammo. 

The X10  sensor mounts to the Picatinny rail of the firearm. If your firearm does not have the Picatinny rail, the kit comes with a barrel mount and a piece of Picatinny you can mount to the baseplate of a flat magazine. If you have a pinky extension or the magazine base plate is not flat, you will need to look at our magazine-specific adapters. Those can slide on in place of your original baseplate. Between the universal Picatinny in the kit and the magazine-specific base plate, you will be able to mount the X10 on almost any firearm. 

The Mantis X10 is an accelerometer and gyroscope that sends the data collected from the firearm to an app via Bluetooth. The MantisX Rifle/Pistol app can be downloaded to your Apple or Android device. There is a button on the unit that turns on the sensor. The app will open into the connect screen. You must turn on the X10 and click the connect button on the app to set up for your training. Once the X10 is connected, the light will change from flashing green to solid green. 

The Drill screen will pop up after the unit is connected.

Opening Screen List 

Elite

• Holster Draw Analysis 
• Recoil Meter

Daily Challenge

Drills

• Open Training
• Shot Timer
• Par Timer
• MantisX Benchmark
• 20 Second Benchmark
• Timed Benchmark
• Endurance
• Compressed Surprise Break
• Primary Hand Only
• Support Hand Only
• Decision Drills
  • Shoot No Shoot- Colors
  • Shoot No Shoot- Shapes
  • Shoot No Shoot- Dice
  • Shoot No Shoot- Addition
• Reload Drills
  • Reload, In Battery
  • Reload, Out of Battery
  • Reload, Tactical
• Cadence Drills
  • Cadence 2.0s
  • Cadence 1.0s
  • Cadence 0.5s
• Hostage Rescue
  • Hostage Rescue- Beginner
  • Hostage Rescue- Intermediate
  • Hostage Rescue- Advanced
  • Hostage Rescue- Custom

Courses

• MantisX Introduction
• Basic Marksmanship
• Advanced Marksmanship
• Elite Marksmanship
• Basic Combat
• Advanced Combat
• Elite Combat
• Double Action Diligence
• Basic Concealed
• Advanced Concealed
• Elite Concealed

Drill Screens- Standard Drills

Score Summary

The average score will be listed on the top right. The top left will show you your total time or average time on some drills. The first column is the shot order. The middle column shows you the score for each shot. The red trophy will be the highest score. The grey trophy will be the lowest score. We have those there for you to quickly read your data. The far left will have your split times. The clock on fire shows the fastest time in red and the slowest time in grey.

Shot Direction & Analysis

When you swipe the screen from right to left on the summary page, the diagnostic page will be the next one you see. You can also tap on the tabs at the top of the screen to swap views. This page will help you understand which direction you pull your shots the most and how you can correct that shot placement in the future. 

The score in the center will be your current shot score or the average score for the session if you have ended the session. The white dots below that score indicate how many shots you scored a 95 or higher. These are your great shots with no corrections provided. The red wedges show you what direction you pulled your shot, and the severity of the error. The larger the red marker, the more you should focus on fixing that problem.

Once you tap on the red marker, you will be able to see pictures that demonstrate the error. The first paragraph explains how you did it wrong, and the second will tell you how to correct the error. The app walks you through several different learning styles so that you can get the most out of the X10.

Movement Trends

The top of the page is going to show you your progress as you take your shots through the session. If your scores started high and then lowered by the end of the session, you can track the consistency or lack thereof. You can swipe over to this part of the graph to see more scores.

The bottom half of the graph screen is going to show you your trigger press movement versus your hold movement for each shot. The trigger press movement is shown in yellow, and the hold movement is shown in blue. In most cases, you would want to limit the thickness of both the trigger press and the whole movement during your sessions.

Trace View

This screen is going to show you the muzzle movement of the firearm. The blue is the hold movement before the trigger press. The yellow is 0.15 seconds before the shot. The score is based on this movement and how far you pull the shot off target during those 0.15 seconds. The white X is where the shot broke. Red will be your post shot movement, so any of the muzzle movement after the shot. 

Each ring designates the degree of movement. The specifics are linked in the information button in the top right section of the screen. The X10 is going to show you how sensitive shooting can be. On the top right of the screen, your cant is shown. If you tap the cant, it will open up to all of your shots so that you can see shot order, cant, and deviation. For these data points, look for consistency. 

The play button on the bottom left will show you the muzzle movement from start to finish. The button next to the play button shows the direction you pulled the shot. It is a toggle button that you can turn on and off. This will correlate with the Diagnostic page and what direction the red markers build out. In the bottom right side of the trace screen, you will see the trash can. You can delete shots individually from this screen.

The shot order is listed below the trace, and you can click each shot to see how your trace changes from shot to shot. The shot score indicated below will show you the score for the shot you are currently on. 

The pen and paper on the bottom right above the settings will give you the ability to write notes about the session. For example, what was the distance you were shooting at?

The last screen will be the live view. There are 400 data points per second on this screen, and it is only available in a live session. 

Courses

If you don’t know where to start or what drill to do, you can always select one of our courses. The MantisX Introduction will help you understand how to navigate through the app and how to pick different drills.

From there, you can choose Marksmanship, Combat, or Concealed Carry courses. Choose the direction best for you, and once you select it, it will populate with your challenges. Upon completion of all the challenges, Mantis will send you a free patch in the mail if you submit your address on the form given in the app.

Groups

The Group Tab allows you to join others while you train. You can follow people in the app or create your own Groups. Some of the popular groups you can join are Glock, S&W, and Springfield. 

The conversation tab allows you to talk to the group members like a chat room and monitor or compare their sessions. 

Settings in the groups allow you to set your notification preferences. If you own the group, you can set the name, sorting by shots vs scores, privacy of the group, and visibility. The fun part is setting the group goal. The goals will change for the next week. Group goals can be set by total group shots, Member shots, or a Drill of the Week.

The Drill can be any of the drills available on the X3. The X10-specific drills are not included on this list. You can set benchmark scores for the drill of the week as well. 

 

Settings

The settings can make or break your session. Make sure you pick the right type of firearm at the top. You will need to select the rifle if you would like rifle data. Below the rifle/ pistol selection, you can pick the make and model of your firearm. This will help you separate the data in the history tab so you can compare the data between different firearms.

You can also select what hand you are shooting with. This is important because on the diagnostic page, the errors will flip based on which hand you were shooting with.

Shot Detection Mode will help you select what type of training you are doing. The auto-populated selection shows Live Fire, Dry Fire, and we give you the option for more. Select Live Fire for practice with ammo, dry for at-home practice without ammo. When you tap into the more button, you will see a list of available options. The list is below.

Dryfire

Livefire

CO2 Blowback

Dryfire Single Action

Dry Fire Double Action

SIRT/ DFM/ TTrigger

Sig P320 Dryfire

ATF Red

Dry Fire Legacy

Below the Shot Detection Mode, you will see Mount Direction. The amount direction shows a picture with the tab on the X10 sensor facing the target on the forward button. And the tab facing the trigger or the shooter on the backward position. If you do not have the MantisX unit mounted correctly and oriented the same way as in the settings, you may have shot detection issues. 

The Mount Location is right underneath the Mount Direction. If you have the X unit on the bottom of the gun, whether it’s the bottom rail or the bottom of the magazine, you will always select the bottom orientation for the mount location. Usually, the top right or left orientation will be used on a rifle that has the Picatinny rail located on different spots around the hand guard.

If the X unit is ever not picking up shots, always check your settings to make sure the mount direction and mount location match.

Your profile will populate with the name you chose and with your picture below the Mount Location. When you click edit profile, you can change your username picture, and description. The description will populate on the group page if you have a public profile. To hide your account from other users, you can select the private button.

The caret next to your account name will allow you to manage accounts on the same device. The guest account can be used for anyone who is borrowing the X unit if they do not have their own account to log into.

If you would like to take your training to the next level, you can choose to set a Training Schedule within the app. With your Training Schedule, you can choose what days you would like to train and what time, and if you would like a reminder sent to you on your phone. The number of shots is up to you, but you can pick from 20 shots a day to 1000 shots during your training days.

Advanced Settings

At the bottom of the Settings Tab, you will see a list of other options. One of the options to highlight is the Advanced Settings. The Advanced Settings will help you change your Buzzer Delay and your Buzzer Delay for reload drills to match your training sessions. The original Buzzer Delay gives you a delay from 1 to 4 seconds, all the way up to 15 to 18 seconds. The Buzzer Delay for reload drills starts at 1 to 4 seconds and goes all the way up to 30 to 33 seconds.

Bullseye Mode is great if you want to see more of your movement while you are pairing for your shot. It will provide you with three seconds of trace data before the shot and one second of trace data after. This would help you provide more data on your shots if you are focused on accuracy.

You can change the theme from the default dark mode to light if you have trouble seeing the dark gray and red theme of the app. The light mode changes the background to white and may be helpful if you are using your phone on the range in bright sunlight. 

If you would like more information on the app and how to use it in your day-to-day training, consider completing our Mastermind Course. This course goes over every single detail in the app and is perfect if you like hands-on learning.

MANTIS X10 ELITE