For me, a killer feature of evil-mode is the "hybrid" state (`evil-disable-insert-state-bindings`) that allows to use emacs (aka readline) keybindings in insert mode.

When I have only a minor edit to make in the middle of typing something (like transposing two characters) it saves me the back-and-forth with the normal mode and it's really sweet.

It probably makes me an heretical freak, but I'm definitely hooked. I guess I am condemned to live the rest of my life in emacs now.