Another option for "modal" editing in emacs is god-mode(1). It lets you use emacs commands without modifier keys. I have it set to change my mode-line color when it's activated, it's great if you want a little taste of vim but not the problem of trying to shoehorn vim key-bindings into emacs.
I used to use this, but I found that a lot of the convenience of modal editing comes from the ability to compose commands. I took the time to learn Vim keybindings; now I use evil-mode and I like it a lot better than god-mode.
1. https://github.com/chrisdone/god-mode