I always remap caps to ctrl because ctrl-[ is an acceptable escape key for me as I like to use other insert mode shortcuts. Eg ctrl-h, ctrl-m, ctrl-k etc.
I know some people map to escape/ctrl when held but that usually means installing something like Karabiner.
Well then you should mention it when talking about vim to non-vimmers as not to leave them in the dark with the defaults.
The question is not what solution you found to avoid the Escape key but that you did.
And even though you are probably used to your solution having the most important key in your program be a weird combo is not great imho. And you are missing out on bash/zsh/gdb and other command line vim modes.
I always remap caps to ctrl because ctrl-[ is an acceptable escape key for me as I like to use other insert mode shortcuts. Eg ctrl-h, ctrl-m, ctrl-k etc.
I know some people map to escape/ctrl when held but that usually means installing something like Karabiner.