So earlier in the year I purchased a MantisX Training System from Tenda in the hope that it’ll help me become a better pistol shooter and man it’s definitely a really cool tool!

It’s a two component system, first is the attachment that slides onto your pistol rail and the second is the app that you install onto your phone.  I only linked to Android but there’s an Apple version too.  Anyway the attachment measures the pistol movement during the trigger pull and it gives you instant feedback on what you’re doing wrong.  

Like the common paper pistol target, it’s able to detect a whole host of issues from slapping the trigger, too little or too much trigger finger, pushing the gun forward or tightening grip.

The MantisX system supports both left & right handed shooters and it can be used during live fire, dry fire or even on pellet or airsoft guns.  I shoot my HK SFP9 pretty well but as always it could be better and last time I went to Silverdale I tested it out.

The score target is the same as this one and when you touch the various sections it’ll tell you what the problem is.  My overall score was good but I was breaking my wrist up and had a bit too much trigger finger. These were slow deliberate shots though and if i were to speed things up my score definitely would have been slower.  The second picture my performance out of 5 shots (can be more or less, depends on how much you shoot) and how much movement my hold and trigger affects the gun.  In the last picture the green light signifies the movement of the gun before the trigger is pulled, the yellow the movement during the trigger pull and the X marks where the shot is.  

I’ve only had one opportunity to take it out to the range but it was a ton of fun to use and I definitely improved as the day progressed.  Hehe the screenshots from my phone were later after i started to do well. 😉  It’s nice that I can get instant feedback when dry firing at home too and you don’t even need a target to use this, just point at anything and pull the trigger.

While most of my shooting buddies thought it was cool and a great teaching device, a few balked at the price and I get it as it is expensive.  But meh I got the money and if it can make me a better shooter then it’ll be well worth it.

The MantisX works with rifles too but those are much easier to shoot so I can see this primarily as a pistol training device.  I’ll post updates as I use it more, right now I’m definitely happy and know that this will make me more effective.