Came into this soap opera of a thread late... looks like several Posts were "deleted" from various replies. Kinda sorry I missed all the fussyness... entertaining reads!
Regarding RID, I've read somewhere... a recap of the FAA docs, that a "add on" RID would be allowed for older sUAV's. That add-on will be extremely small and minimal weight... and probably able to be independent of the platform or for other platforms be added into power or logic.
One of the original concerns of the proposed changes were the existing sUAV's that support businesses and Hobbyist. That concern was apparently heard and adaptive add-ons have been acknowledged to be designed & allowed.
The justification to use, not use, hack, or modify... isn't my interest. I'll adapt within the FAA guidelines as needed... too much invested, too old to risk illegal, and don't care to draw attention from the FAA. As in other discussions on FAA and fines... Best to work within the system and if needed, work on changing the regulations. If a group forms to change the system, I'd be interested... till then, I'll oblige and hopefully media will not continue to show how bad drones are to an ill-informed public.
Regarding "Older" platforms. I'm not concerned at all, I have a wide spread: Inspire1, M600Pro, and older...and newer
Inspire2, M210, and the Mavic series. Other makes: Yuneec, Autel, PowerVision, etc. Not to mention all the expensive Payloads for many Platforms. Flushing all this Investment, Inventory Assets within Tax & Income preparations isn't even a concern over RID... and the Thousands of Other small sUAV shops.
The I1 is probably the oldest consumer platform, and it remains a popular platform in several fields: cinema photography, SAR, Thermal, Inspections, Agricultural, etc. The M600Pro still carries the Full size payloads: DSLR, LiDAR, etc... both based on older technologies and radios and both will have no issues being adaptive to RID.
There are many "Prosumer/Enterprise" platforms that many have $15-50k invested per platform, and a high density of "Consumer" high quality drones in the $500-2500 range. If you own a retail toy class, no comment... but if you own a quality drone... not just DJI brand, it'll most likely have a path to continue flying.
A purchase now... even a used older Mavic Pro wouldn't be a concern. The RID may cycle through a few generations, and still not a concern.
Buy what meets your immediate needs, upgrade later if desired and add the RID as needed: FW update or add-on Module.