Fair enough. I would definitely err on the side of vim when it comes to the benefits of staying within vim's 'mental model', because I do agree the context-switch does matter.
Furthermore, the fact that all my vim-context keypresses can be stored as a 'macro' in itself has provided enough of a productivity increase to make it all worth it. And this is even the case in less-than-perfect vim emulators.
And I do agree that for some things, scrolling and perhaps 'exploring' in general being a big one, a mouse can be worth the context switch.
Furthermore, the fact that all my vim-context keypresses can be stored as a 'macro' in itself has provided enough of a productivity increase to make it all worth it. And this is even the case in less-than-perfect vim emulators.
And I do agree that for some things, scrolling and perhaps 'exploring' in general being a big one, a mouse can be worth the context switch.