I suppose I could learn more about mutt and make the pager easier for me to use, but, I am trying to do the unix thing, and just learn to use a few basic tools well and solve diverse problems with them (The man with a hammer syndrome.) I am working hard to improve my vi and sed skills right now. It is amazing how complicated and powerful these supposedly simple tools really are.
Joel > Note that if your issue with the mutt pager is its keybindings, > they are thoroughly configurable. You might consider using the mutt > pager with keybindings that make you happy, and a macro that pipes > problematic messages through fmt and par and into vi or less.