So there I am, just minding my own business, when UPS drops off a package. I’m not expecting a thing. Glance at the label—”Mantis Tech”—and yeah, instant guilt. They’ve been a long-time sponsor of the blog, and it’s been a good while since I wrote about them. Curiosity takes over. What’d they send? I do the only reasonable thing and open the box. Inside: a Mantis TitanX, weeks before its market release on November 12th, 2025, just for me to evaluate and review.

Not gonna lie—I was pretty surprised Mantis picked me for their go-to-market strategy. It’s an honor to be part of the launch, sure. But I’m that guy with dry fire aids. They know I call out the garbage and only praise the unicorns. Plenty of bad ones waste your money. Most of the few good ones? Value drops the better you get. The ones that stay useful no matter your level—I can count ’em on one hand and still have fingers left to give someone the bird. So where’s the TitanX land? That’s what we’re figuring out. Let’s dive in.

What is the TitanX, exactly?

Think of it like this: just like the BlackbeardX is a Blackbeard with a MantisX baked in, the TitanX is a Titan with a MantisX inside. Yeah, I know—that only helps if you know what a Titan is. We’ll get there in a sec, but first, let’s talk about the MantisX.

Integrated MantisX

I’ve said it before: the MantisX is one of those dry fire tools whose value is inversely proportional to your skill level. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless.

When I was first getting serious about marksmanship, I didn’t know squat about dry fire beyond “it’s the secret sauce.” The MantisX + app gave me drills, nagged me into a daily habit, and—don’t underestimate this—the gamification made it fun. Never loved the shot diagnosis, but the movement tracking from draw to follow-through? Always valuable. You can lie to yourself about what your dot or sights do; the sensors can’t be bought. Next-level nerdery, sure—not for everyone.

But we’re here to review the Mantis TitanX. Want more on the MantisX? Go read that post. Let’s stay on track.

But what about the Titan?

It’s an inert training pistol with a laser in the muzzle that flashes momentarily when the trigger breaks. Reminded me a lot of a SIRT—specifically, one without (or with deactivated) staged trigger laser indicator. One big difference: the shot laser doesn’t stay on while the trigger’s pinned back.

I’m a huge fan of SIRT pistols. Not so much for dry fire (same inverse-value-to-skill thing), but as instructional aids? You can safely demo techniques no safety-conscious instructor would try with a real gun. Especially great for showing students what staging or pinning the trigger means. That said, those specialized benefits come from SIRT’s laser setup, which the Titan doesn’t match. So no, a Titan isn’t an equivalent or better swap for a fully featured SIRT.

Still, inert dry fire pistols have persistent value. Here’s how:

1. Safety: Negligent discharges happen, often from complacency in dry fire safety rituals. Inert makes “bang instead of click” virtually impossible—unless you forget to swap guns or grab the wrong one. That’s on you.

2. Spare your real blasters: Dry fire wears stuff—racking slides, trigger pulls, reload mag drops. Most folks won’t dry fire enough to care, but wear is cumulative. Keep it off your carry, duty, or competition guns.

3. No dead trigger: Semi-autos need recoil energy to reset mechanisms. No cartridge = dead trigger. Not a dealbreaker in the big picture, but a resetting trigger is a nice bonus.

You might be wondering: Titan or SIRT? Overall, SIRT’s better. But SIRTs cost a good bit more—at least 50% for a base model, more than double with bells and whistles. Instructors? SIRT makes sense. Everyone else? Titan’s way more practical.

(No SIRT review yet—let me know if you want one, and we’ll make it happen.) For now, back to the Mantis TitanX review.

Tip to Butt and In the Box

Arrived in a box with:

• Nifty hard-sided Mantis-branded foam-lined case
• TitanX pistol in Glock 19 format
• Two weighted training magazines
• Charging cable
• A few marketing/instructional inserts (no manual)
• Tiny hex key wrench
• Sticker

Except for a few pins, threaded screw studs, and internal electronics, it’s plastic. Black plastic slide is fixed—doesn’t reciprocate. No dealbreakers; lines up with other inert trainers.

Business end: red shot indicator laser at the muzzle. Above it, front sight (more on sights later). Side: two laser alignment screws (windage/elevation) adjustable with the hex key.

Ejection port side: USB-C charging port. Top of slide near that: power button and multifunctional LED (shows on, connecting, charging status).

Just behind the LED: optic cover. Optic-ready threw me at first—I thought it was silly. Then I remembered we’ve modded inert trainers with optics (or 3D-printed housings) at KR Training. Still had no plans to mount one.

Behind the optic cover: rear sight. Time to talk sights. Typical notch-and-post, exact shape of traditional Glock sights—you know, the ones almost everyone hates and replaces. TitanX versions even have the smooth outline where white dots/”U” bracket would be. But no paint—just plain black, molded to the slide. Can’t swap ’em. Fix? High-vis nail polish on the front, or whiteout + creativity if you’re one of the rare factory-Glock-sight lovers. I don’t like black-on-black, but it was the right call—keeps costs down, customization’s easy.

Red frame: working reversible mag release, what feels like a real Glock trigger. Haven’t disassembled it, but it feels right, and a peek down the mag well shows what looks like a Glock trigger bar.

Wish I had a Glock 19 and holster to confirm dimensions/compatibility. Suspect it is true to G19, but trigger guard’s different—might cause holster issues. It didn’t quite fit my all-Kydex PSA Dagger Compact holster (not surprising; Daggers don’t always fit G19 holsters either). Suggests G19 compatibility might be iffy.

Weight/balance vs. Dagger: TitanX feels lighter overall, butt-heavy. Guess it’d be similar vs. a real G19, but without one here, all I can say is the form factor is strikingly G19-like.

Dry Fire Practice with the TitanX

Like SIRTs, it’s got amazing fidget factor. Kept it on my desk for quick impromptu drills on nearby targets. (Should’ve led with this to avoid backlash: I always follow dry fire safety first. The “impromptu” part is just starting outside scheduled sessions. Bonus of having inert tools handy.)

That’s the first thing I did—well before starting the “official” evaluation (just me putting it through serious paces) of the Mantis TitanX for this review.

Those initial sessions? Got tired of black-on-black sights real quick. About to raid my wife’s makeup for nail polish when it hit me: I’ve got a shoebox of review optics collecting dust. Why not slap one on? Green dot to distinguish from red laser. Grabbed an old RFX35 Viridian sent years ago. Its screws wouldn’t thread, but Cyelee packed a metric ton with the Bull X Pro—found a pair, T-10 driver, done. No more crappy irons.

Powered up the Mantis app (hadn’t logged in since October… 2024). Old drills/patches still there, but several new ones added. Perfect—chasing patches gives me something to do while evaluating.

Like BlackbeardX, TitanX unlocks multi-shot drills you can’t do with a dead trigger. Looks like an upsell at first, but nah—those drills just need a resetting trigger.

Whole experience reminded me how fun/engaging gamified dry fire can be. Chasing patches isn’t for everyone, but it’s fun—and builds live-fire-useful skills. Fun alone doesn’t justify cost, but makes the investment more palatable, especially for folks early in skill development who haven’t grokked dry fire yet.

Laser config is interesting: brief activation post-trigger-break. Clean press = crisp dot at estimated POI (factory alignment seems spot-on). Disturb the muzzle = streak in the direction of movement. Suspect streak end is most likely POI, but could be anywhere along it. Point is, streak shows magnitude/direction of deviation super clearly—same info front sight/red dot give, if you’re skilled enough to see/understand it.

Would Uncle Zo buy a TitanX?

That’s the question, right? In the Mantis TitanX’s current form as of this review? No, I wouldn’t. But there’s nuance. I’m not a Glock guy—nothing against them, I just don’t own/shoot G19s. Training heavy on a platform I don’t carry isn’t a net positive; sometimes it’s a negative (readjusting indexes).

That said, if they offer a TitanX in a form factor I run a lot—like a Staccato C2 or similar—I’d drop money in a heartbeat. Value as both dry fire aid and instructional tool. Same reasons I bought the Ace Virtual Shooting Staccato handset, have a Staccato blue gun, and would snag a Staccato SIRT if they made one. A Staccato-flavored TitanX? Happily add it to the toolbox.