I have noticed a lot of people defend these radios, I mean they aren't exactly a low volume product that costs $8000 intended for industrial use either but consumer products made in rather large volumes, therefore it is not impossible to make higher performance wideband receivers at lower cost as we all know & see in the DIY world, especially when it comes to SDR. I would expect that $8000 purpose built radio to come with an iron clad support contract too, which I'm sure where much of the cost to assemble is negligible.
Scanners aren't exactly high volume products either, they are nitche market. My SDS200 is the #18,000 someodd. Is it the 18,000th made that month, that year or from the beginning. 1 person doesn't do everything pre-production. Obviously Paul did a lot of the idea work and the "what do we want it to do work" but I seriously doubt he did the original schematic, breadboard work, the circuit board design, case, programming, pre-production models, etc. So I don't believe it was "all one man" nor that now he's gone, the product is dead in the water.
I certainly do believe Paul was the driving force, idea man and "father" of the home patrol series of radios. He did a lot of the "legwork" to get them designed and built. But there are/were lots of others in the chain and all knowledge wasn't lost when Paul passed.
An awful lot happed in the last 2 years since he became terminal and died. Pamdemics and all. There is now, someone trying to step into his shoes and move on with the product line. At this point, I can't imagine that the SDS series is now DOA and nothing will ever be updated nor will new products come out.
Just my opinion.
