Well, I guess it's a matter of preference, then, because I definitely feel like having to press 3 keys instead of one is indeed a problem when you have to do it four or five times per sentence :)
A side note, btw, regarding CTRL-[ : it seems not to be well known, and it doesn't work on things that use "alt" to access file menu (like gvim), but using alt + <normal mode key> in insert mode instantly drops to normal mode and execute that key. For example, I usually leave insert mode by doing A-j or A-h, I never hit the ESC key.
My favorite trick is `A-e a` when inside parenthesis to jump just after it and still be in insert mode, like when writing parameters to a function and jumping out of parameters list to add the `{` character.
A side note, btw, regarding CTRL-[ : it seems not to be well known, and it doesn't work on things that use "alt" to access file menu (like gvim), but using alt + <normal mode key> in insert mode instantly drops to normal mode and execute that key. For example, I usually leave insert mode by doing A-j or A-h, I never hit the ESC key.
My favorite trick is `A-e a` when inside parenthesis to jump just after it and still be in insert mode, like when writing parameters to a function and jumping out of parameters list to add the `{` character.