When it comes to firearms training, dryfire systems are key. These systems let you practice at home safely and less expensively. Mantis has enhanced their awesome Blackbeard AR15 dry fire system and upgraded it to the Blackbeard X. The Blackbeard X incorporates both the Mantis Blackbeard and their X line of products. This gives the user a fantastic AR training system.

The Blackbeard X system needs some back info to really explain it. The original Blackbeard system had a self resetting trigger, a laser, a battery pack, and an app. The Blackbeard X also has these, but it incorporates the movement part of the Mantis X series of products. You can read our previous reviews of the Mantis X10 and the Mantis Blackbeard. One might ask what the laser is for? The laser allows the user to physically see where your shots are going, or it can be used with various apps that read where the laser hits. Mantis has their own system for this called the Mantis Laser Academy. I haven’t used the Mantis version, but I tried a few others and the Blackbeard X laser worked with them.

Having the ability to measure movement is where the Blackbeard X really shines. It has an accelerometer and gyroscope built into the battery pack. This allows it to read movement. In the app, when the Blackbeard X system is turned on, it opens up movement categories. Under the BBX heading in the app are BBX Dynamics, Transitions, and Plate. Under those are various movement drills. The Dynamics basically analyze your shooting and tell you what's wrong. The transition drills are self explanatory, they analyze your shooting plus movement. This applies to the Plate category also, but it is set up for steel challenge type drills. In all of these, Mantis rates you on your Efficiency, Transition, Over Travel, and a Delay time. These ratings are in a “score” factor up to 100. Some parts of the app also give you a total time reading. The nice thing about time, is that the app gives you graphs and live movement recordings to look at. In these are things like shot delay, split times, and transition times. Since I shoot Steel Challenge style matches a lot, I found the Plate section of the app to be very useful. Plus they are all pretty fun to do.

Besides all the new movement features of the Blackbeard X, it still retains all the old features of the original Blackbeard. So, you get that self resetting trigger system on your AR. I say “your” because the Blackbeard X still slides into your AR. Therefore your trigger system, rifle weight, optic, etc are still in use, unlike those other systems. This is one of the biggest advantages to the Blackbeard systems.

To fit the X system into the Blackbeard system, Mantis gave you a standard capacity magazine. Okay, it’s not a real magazine, instead it is the battery pack. But included in the battery pack, is the X system. It has a little flap, at the bottom of the magazine, to turn it on. When this happens, a blue light blinks until the app has paired to it. Then it turns a solid blue. The original Blackbeard had a shorter battery pack. The Blackbeard X’s is longer because it houses the X parts that let it read movement.

Having used the Blackbeard extensively, moving to the Blackbeard X was easy. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it read movement from target to target. I really liked that it told me if I had over passed the target and had to move back. You don’t really notice it until you see it on the graph. It even will play your movements for the particular drill. So you can see what you are doing along the timeframe that it took you to shoot the drill. My only complaint about the Mantis systems is that there is zero felt recoil. Maybe the next upgrade will have some sort of perceived recoil. Other than that, the Blackbeard X has a lot of good training options in it.

The Blackbeard X system is a really nice AR dry fire training aid. It gives the added feature of movement tracking. If you want one of the best dry fire training systems, you can’t go wrong with the Mantis Blackbeard X. Pair it with the Mantis Laser Academy and you get even more data. Plus it’s fun and you can compete with your friends. If you want an AR dry fire system, look into the Mantis Blackbeard X. It is a very useful tool to have.

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

AR dry fire training system with built in analytics

Target Market:

Anyone wanting a dry fire training system for their AR15

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

Trigger reset system
Battery pack - size of 30 round magazine
Includes Mantis X system in battery pack
Laser for use with training apps
App includes diagnostic tools and training aids
Motion based analysis of weapon movement
With or without Laser
Uses everything on your AR - sight, trigger, etc

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

No laser, IR laser, or Red laser

What others are saying?:

5/5 stars from Harrison B. at Mantisx.com

Excellent training tool. The resetting trigger lets you practice follow up shots and the built in Mantis allows you to track your split times. It isn’t inexpensive, but it’s cheaper than 1,000 rounds of ammo at current market value, and it allows for significantly more practice than that.