I'm not saying this is bad advice, but as a vim expert I have a hard time with emulations messing up my flow. IMO if you want to use emacs it is worth taking the hit and switching to a whole new set of keybindings.
I have actually found it hard to go back to vim because emacs has been much easier to customize and many of the features I use routinely are no longer in my vim config.
I use Emacs very casually, mainly just for writing in org mode with Evil, and have toyed with the idea of switching to it completely. But, if you could talk about the figurative holes you fell into as a vim expert that could help inform my decision down the road.
1. Search/replace behavior - Not that it is better or worse, just that it is different. 2. Misc. ex commands. I don't remember specifics. 3. Plugin specific commands. Not really fair to bring up, but still part of my muscle memory.
Long time vim user, switched to evil emacs. Works great, have zero issues with it.