I looking to acquire a at home training system and have looked at Mantis trainers for handguns. I would much appreciate hearing from you if you have a Mantis system or another vendor’s system to get your recommendation(s). Thanks in advance for any help.
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Regular dry fire with basically nothing is good. Laser cartridges you load into the chamber come next. Then something like Mantis is great. You also may consider a SIRT pistol especially if you have a Glock/Smith/Sig/other I forget which where SIRT makes a laser trainer that matches those guns
Lots of choices out there. My preference is the SIRT. It’s separately, physically and visually, from the real/life gun, but super similar for a lot of training carryover. I carry Glock and have a G17 style SIRT
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I love my Mantis. In my opinion, there is no substitute for training with your actual EDC. There are certain aspects of it that you cannot do, with the handgun versions, as they do not cycle the slide, but draw and first shot practice is extremely valuable, again, imo. The sirt systems are nice as well but unless you EDC a pistol they “mimic”, slightly less useful.
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I have a MantisX and a G-Sight Laser system. They pretty much use the same form, a target on the wall a phone or tablet recording the shots. The MantisX is really good at trigger pull and site training, the G-Sight actually shows you where you hit on the target with shot timers and such. I use them both regularly and Love them.
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I have a Mantis-X , I will also dryfire with a laser cartridge and practice drawing from the holster. Both work well for my needs.
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I’ve used LASERHIT for quite awhile now. It can be used with a laser bullet in your EDC or any other training laser gun, Sirt is a good choice of laser training pistols, I have 3 different Sirt pistols and have holsters for them so I can practice from concealment.
Most important point to in home training is SAFETY. Check twice, no three times that no live ammo is in your EDC and nowhere within your practice location. I make sure no ammo or EDC firearm is within practice area when I use the Sirt Laser Trainer pistols.
Train safely, train often.
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+1 on the SIRT.
It’s also good for practicing magazine changes.
You can also use it to do tactical maneuvers like room clearing, shooting around barriers, etc.
It’s also a good tool to use when teaching others how to shoot.
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I’d be interested in trying out the Mantis X system some day. But I went with the SIRT mostly because I like the ability to practice taking more than one shot at a time. Though when I do dryfire with my actual pistol (with or without a laser cartridge) I will often go through the motions of often making a second, third or fourth shot on the dead trigger. I don’t want my body to be conditioned to taking just one shot and automatically going to rack the slide before taking another.
The SIRT is also better than taking a real firearm to my martial arts class to practice when it makes sense to draw and shoot and when it makes sense to use my hands to fend off an attack and or make time and space to get to the pistol. We also run some shoot don’t shoot scenarios.
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I got the pink rhino a long time ago. I don’t really use it. To be honest, I find standard dry fire more practical for me. No apps or set up other than making sure I’m in a safe space, no ammo and following the rules of firearms safety (I have a corner of the house with a brick wall on the other side of it. I’m not the best about it but if I keep it simple I’m more likely to do it. Usually try to do it when the house is empty which is rare lol.
If I had a mantis system I may use it since I paid for it though 
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Dryfire mag supposedly will reset the trigger so you don’t have to rack the slide. I don’t know what kind of handguns they make them for but that may be an option. All I know is that they just came out with one for the Sig P365 and have sold out already and are waiting for another production run. Might want to check to see if they have a mag that fits your gun. They also have a place on their site that asks what gun mag you would like to see next. I put in Sig P365 about 4 months ago and they sent me an email when the first production had arrived.
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I have one of those that fits my home defense pistol. The only draw back is that you can’t use it with a striker activated laser cartridge. They are a cheaper alternative to a SIRT pistol but I find the SIRT to be worth the extra cost. Especially if you can find one that matches your carry piece relatively closely.
Though I think I heard somewhere that someone was developing a laser that would work with a dryfire mag. Not sure if that would work with any dryfire mag or if you would have to purchase that setup together and how much it would cost?
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That is the one thing I really like about my SIRT pistol. Nothing more simple than picking up the SIRT and pulling the trigger. No worries about unloading or safe directions (aside from practicing what directions are safe to fire in my home based on family and neighbor locations) or ammo in the same room, etc.
The only negative is the price though some of the models go on sale from time to time. I got mine with two spare mags for just a little over $200 last year.
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I’ve told this story before. Forgive the repeat. I was at Tactical Defense Institute years ago. They told a story of a first time shooter taking a beginner class. She was surprisingly good for a newbie. They asked her how she got as good as she was. She kept a SIRT pistol in her desk drawer at work. When she had down time she took it out and practiced her trigger press.
TDI says 90% of shooting is in the trigger press. SIRT helps with that.
I agree on the simplicity. I can grab mine get some reps in and know I’m safe the whole time.
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@Edward303
All depends on how much do you want to invest.
Simple dry fire (correctly) is enough.
Dry fire with laser cartridge and laser target is a next step.
Then you add timer to it.
If these seem to be boring, invest in simple “simulation training” like LASR X.
The most important is… whatever you do at home, must be verified and validated at the range by somebody else, the best if that will be Instructor, who will give you a real feedback.
Don’t rely on yourself thinking that dry fire makes you better, if you’re doing it wrong way .
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Dryfire does have a laser that works with the Smart Dryfire mag but it doesn’t work with the Mantis system I have. Apparently it does work with some other systems.
Edit: I just watched a youtube video that showed the Dryfire mag with the Dryfire laser working with the Mantis X. Now I don’t know what to believe.
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In other words, practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.
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Almost agreed… 
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. 
There is no such thing as “perfect practice”… even we try do things perfectly, there is always a chance to do it better… that’s the whole idea of practice… 
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Thanks. That’s fair. 
Appreciate the perspective.
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Is the sirt really identical in break and reset? That’s my only real skepticism. At least with dry fire, I am training with my actual first shot from my actual gun.
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I believe most (maybe all?) SIRTS have the ability to adjust the travel, reset and pull weight. Mine has a bit heavier pull than my well broken in HD pistol. But I haven’t bothered adjusting it because I find that learning to control the slightly heavier trigger makes it easier when I switch back to the real thing.
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