However, if I spent this much effort learning any editor I think it would pay dividends in the long run. The difference is that Vim forces you to go through this pain, whilst other editors work ‘out the box’ and so most programmers are not inclined to learn the power of those editors.
60 days of vim - http://codeincomplete.com
I don’t think Vim is as powerful in a day to day use as an IDE but, as reflected by Jake Gordon, it gives you the habit of learning your tools.