Hi,
On my Mantis #q40 I have the problem that my right inner thumb key I use for navigating down always starts wiggling and today it broke completely. That's the key I propably press 500 times a day to read if not more. Anyone else facing issues with these buttons?
By Jokyboy129, 7 October, 2025
Forum
Assistive Technology
Comments
thumb keys
I don't have the same display, but have a focus 40, and have noticed issues with thumb keys on that too, mainly they start sticking, so you go to press it, release, but the button remains partially pressed, causing the display to keep scrolling and really make you lose your spot.
Hope you can find a way to fix this. Sorry I can't offer more help as I have 0 experience with the display in question.
Mantis Thumb Keys
Yes they wear out for me too. It seems to be the weakest link. It is disappointing. The best advice I have when you have a working display: use your screen reader's ability to reverse panning keys to reduce stress on the key. I do not recall if VoiceOver can do this, but JAWS and I think NVDA can. What I have done to help with muscle memory is assign reverse panning to certain apps that I use for certain things. For example, I keep my BookShare reading in Microsoft Edge and set reverse panning there. So I know when I am in Edge, I use the left key to pan forward. It isn't ideal and won't fix them breaking but can get a bit more mileage. You can also try auto scrolling from your screen reader. I have never had much success or comfort with that feature as I read different lines at different speeds. But some people fair well with it.
Same problem here
I sent mine in to be repaired for this reason, and it came back with the same problem. It's extremely frustrating.
The mantis build quality isn't great
Considering its cost, I was disappointed with the choice of materials. I have been spoiled with the industrial design of Apple, but everything on the Mantis feels a bit, well, cheap. I especially dislike the keyboard.
Humanware, do better. It would have cost maybe another couple of hundred bucks to low-profile the whole thing, maybe even have an aluminium shassy like the Vario Ultra and solid scroll buttons. They obviously had to cut some corners to hold the price down a little after blowing most of the budget on the cells, but I'd certainly have paid 10% more for something that felt more robust. As you say, these keys get pressed a lot. Maybe something like the Mantis Pro...
And another thing... Sorry, I'm on a roll! Why don't they let us choose between Mac and Windows? The relocation of the function key is really annoying. I'm certain there are more blind folk that use Apple products with keyboards than sighted, thinking iOS devices. There should have been, or be, a means of perfectly remapping the keyboard to a MacBook layout.
I'm really hoping Humanware fix this for you quickly and for free. It sounds like a design flaw. Or, maybe, you know, just don't press buttons too much, that'll keep it in good nick :).