I've never got into any of these Vi/Vim emulators because they vary from pure Vim in subtly unexpected ways and typically don't support plugins or vimrc setup.

I've never got into any of these Vi/Vim emulators because they vary from pure Vim in subtly unexpected ways and typically don't support plugins or vimrc setup. Neovim will change all that, being based on direct socket-based communication with actual Vim, so it really will be possible to get the best of both worlds.