FOG HORN March 2018

Twobirds Flying Publication

MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System

Copyright 2018, Towbirds Flying Publication. All Rights Reserved.

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
By: Sal Palma
I spent a considerable amount of time imagining
what, if any, activities aren’t enhanced through
regular and effective training. Language skills,
computational skill and athletics all require
more than just initial training, they also demand
ongoing training and that training must be
regular and effective. This is especially true for
shooting. Training however can be a double
edge sword, particularly if unsupervised where
a trainee could easily end up reinforcing bad
habits and techniques.
All experienced shooters know that good
shooting is a product of technique and
consistency: grip, trigger finger placement,
extension, body positioning relative to the
target and trigger pull all affect shooting. These
mechanical movements influence, in varying
degrees, muzzle movement. So, to what extent
does the previously mentioned mechanics
Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved
2018
influence what the muzzle does at any given
time?
If we wrap time around muzzle movement, we
can identify three timeslots; just before the
trigger break, the trigger pull itself and
movement after the trigger break. Then, If we
electronically measure the physical movement
during each of those time slots, we can
precisely determine what the muzzle is doing
and correlate that movement to the mechanics
of grip, trigger finger placement, etc.
Working with a trainer is one way of achieving
good results but it’s expensive and not always
practical; furthermore, an instructor lacks the
granularity to precisely asses what your weapon
is doing before during and after the shot, and
unsupervised training doesn’t provide the
critical input a trainee needs to avoid
reinforcing bad habits.
So, what’s needed is a system that can be used
in both dry fire and live fire training, is cost
effective and provides the shooter with an
analysis of his or her performance with
appropriate recommendations for correcting
deficiencies. Enter Mantis X Shooting
Performance System from Mantis Tech.
 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018
Mantis X is an extremely sophisticated system. firearm is doing before, during and after each
At the heart of this technology is a sensor that trigger pull.
attaches to your firearm’s accessory rail. This
device is powered by an internal rechargeable
battery and collects positional data for your
firearm.

Your firearm moves as you present the weapon,

pull the trigger, and recover from recoil. This
motion occurs in space and space as we know
from our high school math is defined by three
coordinates on the Cartesian system and that is
X, Y and Z.

Once a connection has been established, you

configure the application for your particular
shooting scenario.
The sensor passes the data it collects via
The configuration screen allows you to select
Bluetooth to the Mantis X app running on your
between a handgun or long gun; you can also
smart device. The data is processed by some
select the firearm to be used so you can
very sophisticated algorithms designed to
associate shooting results with selected
analyze what your firearm is doing about 200
firearms; you can identify whether you are right
milliseconds before your trigger break, during
handed or left handed; you select live fire, dry
your trigger break and immediately after. From
fire or CO2 ; sensor orientation and rail position.
that analysis, Mantis X software, which is
It also provides the user with an instruction
available for both IOS and Android platforms,
guide and the opportunity to report issues. The
scores and analyzes your shot and makes
app is tight and runs extremely well. The only
recommendations for improving your shooting.
issue I had was with the Bluetooth connection
The Mantis X Shooting Performance System is dropping a couple of times during training,
ruthlessly accurate in its analysis of firearm certainly no big deal.
movement. It does not replace an instructor but
it’s clearly a force multiplier for that instructor.
An instructor can observe your shooting
mechanics and correct obvious conditions,
Mantis X will collect and analyze what your

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018
Mantis has done an outstanding job of
developing a comprehensive list of training
scenarios. On this page, the trainee has the
option of selecting from a variety of exercises,
including timed shooting, reloads, primary hand
only and support hand only. For my maiden
voyage, I chose the Mantis X Benchmark.

Once your Mantis X sensor and app are

connected, you’re ready to start training, using
a number of possible scenarios.

Mantis X includes an informational page

describing the training objectives for the
selected exercise. In my case, the goal was to
measure precision and performance over time. I
was required to take 10 shots focusing on
precision for every shot.

After viewing the stated objectives, the next

screen is a score sheet. This is where each shot
fired is scored and weapon movements
assessed for hold and trigger pull movement for
each shot. The trainee can also select from live
fire, dry fire and CO2 modes, right or left hand
and sensor orientation using the score sheet
page.

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018
Once all options have been selected, the
shooter taps the start icon to begin the training
session.

Mantis calls Mantis X’s next screen a spider

chart. It’s somewhat technical in nature in that
it’s designed to capture multivariate (more than
one variable) data in a two-dimensional chart.
As the shooter progresses through the ten
rounds required, Mantis X captures all of the
relevant data and scores each shot providing
the student with immediate feedback.

From a pedagogical perspective, the Mantis X

system meets all of the requirements for a
highly effective interaction with the trainee. The
student applies what he or she has learned and
receives immediate scoring and feedback.

Once the shooter has completed a training

session, Mantis X adds the session to its
historical database. Historical sessions can then
be reviewed by the trainee or in conjunction
with an instructor, a great system for making all
relevant details available for review and
evaluation. Interpreting the chart requires some assistance
from the developers, and Mantis provides a

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018
very user friendly way of accessing the needed
explanation.

In the upper left hand corner you’ll see a

question mark which when tapped will open a
popup to display an explanation. Mantis X is a
sophisticated tool and its developers could have
allowed themselves to get stuck in the all too
frequent quagmire of what I call techno-babble,
but here too they’ve done an excellent job
making explanations clear and concise.

The final analytics is presented in what MANTIS

calls the Trace. This is a polar graph like plot
that presents the full trace of firearm
movement during the shot. Hold movement is
represented in blue, trigger press movement in
yellow and movement after the trigger break in
red.

The next screen plots your score for each shot

fired. The flatter the line, the more consistent
your shooting is. On the lower half of the chart
Mantis X plots the hold movement in blue,
which is a measure of weapon movement
before the trigger press against trigger press
movement. Here too, help in interpreting the
graph is available by simply tapping the “?”
icon.

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018
Mantis X has a number of other screens that are recommended corrective action as shown
designed to setup training groups and share above.
training results, all very nice features for those
of you gregarious folks. It wasn’t that big of a I also ran through two out of battery reloads. In
deal for me. However, what was a big deal for one scenario I focused on time but my hold
me was the app generated corrective movement and trigger pull movement were
suggestions. large hence the lower score of 45.4.

Mantis X doesn’t just analyze it provides the In the next scenario, I slowed my reload down
but focused on muzzle control resulting in a
trainee with constructive feedback
higher score of 91.0.

The challenge to the trainee is minimizing hold

and trigger pull movement while decreasing
reload time.

As you become familiar with Mantis X, you’ll

appreciate what an extraordinary and
revolutionary training system it is.

Mantis X not only provides trainees with the

metrics but it also suggests solutions to improve
detected deficiencies.
Using a series of sophisticated and complex
algorithms, Mantis X examines data collected by
the smart sensor and recommends corrective
action.

During the course of my review, I heeled the

pistol, used too much trigger finger on the
trigger pull and limp wristed the pistol – all
common mistakes with novice shooters. In all
cases, Mantis X detected the flaw and

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 MANTIS Tech – MANTIS X Shooting Performance System
2018

A Message From Mantis Tech:

We're gun nuts, with some heavy geek

seasoning and a deep passion for our families
and our future.

 Like you, we want to shoot better.

 Like you, we recognize that shooting is
a perishable skill. We want more
options for effective, efficient training.
 Like you, we believe that when
performance is measured, performance
improves.
 Like you, we want to take the
guesswork out, and replace it with cold,
hard data. So we made Mantis - for us.
And it turns out that a whole bunch of
other people felt the same way.
 This is only the beginning for Mantis.
My objective in this review is not to replace the We work tirelessly to improve
user manual, but the Mantis X Shooter algorithms, give actionable data, and
Performance System deserves a comprehensive help shooters at every skill level - to
expose’. shoot better.
In closing, Mantis X is not a game, although it’s
interesting and fun to use. It’s a highly evolved
and technically sophisticated tool designed to
improve shooter performance. This is a training
system that can be used by police academies,
agency academies, firearm instructors,
individuals, or anyone needing to develop
consistent and finely honed shooting skills.

At an M.S.R.P. of $149, the app is free; you’ll get

a powerful professional training tool that is easy
to use and highly effective. In the short time
I’ve had with Mantis X, I’ve developed an
affinity for just how elegant and effective
Mantis X really is.

-SP

Copyright 2018, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved