Most attempts at vim modes in other applications seem to be insert or "move" mode, with practically no functionality in what they call normal mode. Whereas evil emulates largely most of vim(far behind normal and insert modes too), but when it does eventually fall down you're really not expecting it. My go-to example for this is using the expression register, the number of times I've typed a vim expression in to emacs when using the expression register is ridiculous.
When tools aren't so functional you're basically always expecting them to fail, so it isn't such a shock when you can't even ciw or whatever. My point -- or perhaps question -- is what is really the better solution; one which almost 100% seamless or one which is practically useless from the outset.