Being a long time Vim user, and having dabbled in Emacs just a teeny weeny bit, I'm convinced that "Emacs is a wonderful operating system, lacking only a decent editor"!
That's why you can use vim in emacs. Since I've been using spacemacs, I don't miss vim anymore. Use the best editor together with the best operating system!
I don't know how you got that impression. Evil-mode should have you covered.