Mantis Laser Systems, The True Unaffiliated Review

So, the Mantis Blackbeard X, Blackbeard, Laser Academy, etc. - all really cool stuff, right? Absolutely, I think the concept is great - especially for the busy folks (like myself) who can't get out to the range as often as they'd like, this is a training implement that really can improve your time to target, splits, etc. - but what is wrong with the Mantis systems? I've had to send back a handful of their Blackbeards, they just stopped working. And sending it back was quite the hassle too, having to bug Mantis via their customer support chat multiple times before they sent me a new unit. And, by the way, you must be the original purchaser in order to get any sort of customer support...so make sure you're staying away from the secondary market, because you may be out some cash if it comes time to warranty it (and, in my experience, you will). 

I've settled with my current Blackbeard X, even though it has extreme phantom battery drain. Meaning, when it's not in-use, it still drains the battery, and still dies. Pretty rough for a product that costs over $300 now... 

The Mantis is hyped up by people like the Miculeks, Garand Thumb, and other stars in the gun industry - which is fine, I'm sure they love the products, and I'm sure they got some of the top tier working ones hand selected by Mantis, not one off the shelf. My note, as always, is to be careful with products that are being pushed by people that are financially motivated to get you to spend. Do your own due diligence, ask normal people who have actually bought the product and had some time behind it. 

Now, let's get into the actual Mantis system. It's a laser system that goes where your standard AR BCG and mag goes, and shoots a laser onto targets that are picked up by an app from your phone. The app can do things such as analyze your hits, assess your score across multiple targets, helps you find the most effective transition path between targets, shot-by-shot breakdowns, etc. - it REALLY IS a cool system, I just wish the actual technology was a bit more robust. The Mantis products still charge using a micro-USB, an incredibly outdated charging mechanism that is known to fail (and has failed, on mine). Planned obsolescence for a product that's just a few years old is not great to see from a company like Mantis, they know (and likely anticipate) the need to upgrade tech very soon, and know their customers will pay for new products when they release the USB-C version, or whatever. 

The last thing I'll mention is their curated reviews on their website, this is something I've noticed a lot from larger companies. They manually approve/deny reviews, so you'll never see anything bad written about the Mantis on their own website. Brownells does the same thing, how do I know this? I've reviewed products negatively on both Brownells and Mantis's website, and neither were approved reviews. If you take a gander at my website, you'll see that reviews are automatically published. If you write something, good or bad, 1 star or 5 stars, it's automatically published, and I'll always respond, especially if there is a concern. Don't trust everything you see on the internet, folks. 

And for everyone's awareness, I bought both the Mantis Blackbeard X, and Laser Academy (9MM) for full price; and even if I did receive a discount or industry program deal or something, I'd still review this the same.