Steiner TOR-X Laser Trainer Review

There’s no debate about it, dry fire practice is one of the most important components of a firearms training regiment. This is especially true for handgun skills, which will degrade without dedicated effort. 

Happily, there’s an  increasing number of dry fire training systems that will help you practice your draw, presentation, and trigger press at home. Mantis is the undisputed champ of the dry fire training products and recently the company took the concept to the next level with the Tor-X laser trainer.  

Mantis teamed up with Steiner to build a robust laser sighting system with all the capabilities of the MantisX system on board. Put simply, it’s a laser sight and dry fire training unit all in one, and it allows users to visually track their shot placement during dry practice. All the while, the MantisX tech does its own tracking under the hood and compiles all the data you could ever hope for.

I got my hands on the Steiner Tor-X and mounted it on three different pistols. Here’s how it worked. 

Tor-X Features, Pros, Cons

Mantis Teams Up with Steiner

As with the Mantis’ other products, The Tor-X gives you tons of data through an app, but unlike other products it also provides visual feedback thanks to a daylight-visible laser sight made by Steiner.  

The TOR-X can be mounted on most handguns with a standard Picatinny or Weaver accessory rail — including micro-compacts. Plus, most handgun holsters that can accommodate pistol lights will also work with the Tor-X. 

Everything is contained in a tough aluminum housing that is water and dust resistant. The unit was designed to take a beating. After testing the Tor-X, I attached it to the rail of a Glock 17 Blue Gun and dropped it a half dozen times from waist and chest height onto tile and concrete. Aside from a little scuff on the finish from the concrete, the Tor-X was unbothered.  

The ambidextrous activation switches are fantastic. They’re two separate buttons (instead of a butterfly switch) with a rubberized and textured surface with an extremely positive activation click. There’s also an Auto-On feature that activates the laser as soon as the user draws the pistol it’s attached to. 

The integrated MantisX tech offers everything a standalone MantisX unit allows you to do. Working in conjunction with the free MantisX app, the sensor tracks real-time performance using a wide array of data points fed by a high-end sensor that detects and analyses your movements during dry fire.  The software knows exactly how the pistol is oriented and how it moved during a given drill. 

Setup

Setting up the TOR-X for the first time couldn’t be easier. The unit mounts to a Picatinny accessory rail with two screws with conventional elevation and windage adjustment screws, and it’s powered by an included 1/3N battery. The mount is excellent and allows for the precise positioning of the unit on different handguns without relying on a bunch of removable adapters. 

Once you sight in the green daylight laser, just open the MantisX app on your phone and hold down both activation buttons on the unit so it can be discovered via Bluetooth. After the app connects to the TOR-X, that’s pretty much it. From there you will have access to the MantisX app’s host of training drills and shooting performance analytics, including real-time coaching and feedback on every shot. Of course, it also functions as an independent laser sight without the app, and can be used for live fire training, too. 

Testing the Tor-X

I tested the unit on three pistols: a single-action Springfield Armory Embassy 1911, a SIG Sauer Legion P220, and an older Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 9mm. I did various dry-fire drills over a couple days with each gun. With an adjustment or two, the mount allowed the TOR-X to fit perfectly to each pistol. The free MantisX app was downloaded on an iPhone and connected with Bluetooth. 

First up was a refresher course using the MantisX Introduction, which gives you a download on the app’s features and teaches you how to interpret the results and feedback it gives you. There are various charts and graphs that can be a little overwhelming at a glance, but it’s really useful info when you dig into it. 

After that, I cycled through a few drills for each handgun (the app has a suite of drills you can follow). The only light-bearing holster I had was an older Safariland model for 1911s, so the Springfield carried the Holster Draw Analysis drills, which are always humbling.  

Utilizing the unit with a holster was really the biggest issue that I found with the TOR-X. The Mantis X10, for example, gives you the option of attaching the sensor unit to the Pic rail, or to a baseplate on your magazine with a small integrated rail section. That means you can do holster drills with any pistol and any holster. Plus, if you’re training with a handgun that has a pistol light, you don’t have to remove it. With the TOR-X, you’re limited to pistols with empty rails and to light-bearing holsters. 

For that reason, I think the TOR-X isn’t so much a CCW trainer, but more of an overall pistol fundamentals trainer, that can work for some CCW training given the right setup. 

That said, I found myself using the laser more than I thought. Based on what the laser did on the target, I could immediately tell when my presentation was bad or my grip was off. That hunch was then backed up by data in the app. 

The most interesting thing I discovered came from switching among pistols so frequently in a short amount of time. I was surprised how quickly I fell into bad habits with specific guns. For example, after going from the super smooth, light trigger pull on the single-action Springfield, my first few double-action shots with the P220 were abysmal. Even more proof that you need to train constantly with specific firearms or your skills will degrade (it was also proof that I haven’t been training enough). 

The MantisX app and its diagnostics and instant feedback (it gives straightforward analysis like “pushing,” or “no follow through”) allowed me to improve quickly. And that, afterall, is the point. 

Final Thoughts on the Steiner Tor-X

I’ve been using MantisX products since the company debuted years ago, so I’m super familiar with the app and its features. Having the laser definitely adds something — a real-time bit of visual feedback that lets you know immediately how “off” you are even before you see the results on your phone screen. This may sound trivial, but it definitely helps you to recognize what feels right and wrong when paired with the data from a drill. 

Overall, the TOR-X is an interesting and revealing training tool that can add a whole new layer to your dry fire drills at home that you can carry over into specific live-fire drills at the range, and the laser itself is one of the absolute best you can buy for a handgun.