Esc key after incremental search loses file position

IE it would be a lot nicer if Esc key just stopped the increment search. 

P.S. it would be nicer still if cursor keys canceled the search too, as that is what VisualStudio does :)

I feel this behaviour is desirable, as it allows you to cancel a search with 'Esc' and go back to where you were before. This also mirrors how incremental search works in Emacs.

I agree with your comments about the cursor keys cancelling the search however (at least the up and down keys)

Well, this feature is inconsistent with other search options that I use interchangeably: search next (F3), search prev (Shift-F3), search selected forward (Ctrl-F3) and search selected backward (Ctrl-Shift-F3). All of these let me use cursor keys.

Or specifically, I end up with the following cycle every time:

•  search incrementally for a word
•  F3 a few times
•  try the cursor (left/right/down do nothing) D'OH!
• try the cursor (up changes the search query) D'OH
• press down to search for the last thing again, find the appropriate place again
• press Esc. The editor jumps away. D'OH!

From here:

• press F3 to find the right spot
• use cursor keys to move around
• actually perform the edit

So, my beef is with both the increment search "edit" box and, much more so, with the Esc key.

I agree that an option to make the arrow keys end the search and move left/right/up/down at the current position would be desirable. To me, this would remove the need for ESC placing the cursor at the currently highlighted point.