Its an easy purchase, a versatile/slick system with a huge library of games

Oh my goodness. I didn't even realize this was a thing. I typed the pertinent data into the google machine, and it appears to be a thing indeed. Maybe this is part of the reason Switch Lite numbers have dropped more sharply than I think most would have expected.

I don't know how much it has impacted sales.  But, I find it to be a totally scummy move by Nintendo.  The issue was very widespread and well known with the regular joycons.  To then go ahead and launch another piece of hardware without fixing the problem is just totally unacceptable.  They've also not been very contrite or transparent about it.  Their PR strategy seems to be to ignore the problem as much as possible.  

Nintendo does not deserve a pass.  They need to be called out, and they need to feel it in the pocket book.  There's no chance that gamers would be this tolerant if MS or Sony knowingly released hardware with a well known, widespread problem like this.  

Except that with the Lite, it's the internet fear mongering due to a few small youtubers making unsubstantiated claims regarding drift. Considering drift is a wear and tear issue, not enough time has passed to accurately conclude the Lite suffers the same widespread issues as the original joycons. 

You're certainly correct that we haven't had enough time to see the extent of it.  But, the fact that it is happening in nearly brand new units doesn't.  There is enough evidence that it is still occuring, and that's it's basically the same issue, for the lawyers to lump it into the big lawsuit.  

Of course, lawyers want to lump in anything they can.  But, they certainly aren't making it up out of thin air.  Doing that could seriously screw up the entire case, which is not a risk that would be taken.  

Is it strictly a wear and tear issue though? My worst experience with drift happened with the Xbox 360. I had 3 new controllers, in a row, drift right out of the box. It was maddening, and there was no 4th controller. Part of the reason I traded in my 360. LOTS went wrong all at once, but not being able to play without drift....aaaaaiiiieeeeee!

I would personally recommend getting the original Switch model. Best of both worlds. I would also recommend getting a Pro controller. It is honestly the most comfortable controller I've used since the Gamecube! I haven't had any drifting issues with my two pairs of joy cons as of yet, but I only use them for party games and I only play certain types of games (mainly turn based RPGs) that do not require much action or precision with the control sticks.

As for games, it sounds like you are burnt out on open world type games (I could be wrong), but if that's the case I would recommend Super Mario Odyssey, DK Tropical Freeze, Mario + Rabbids, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Octopath Traveller, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Zelda Link's Awakening.

I have yet to play Astral Chain, but that looks promising as well, same with Luigi's Mansion 3 and Pokemon. I actually recommend Let's Go if you are in to Pokemon.

Switch has tons to offer, and I think that it still has (at least) 3 more years of life left in it before a Switch 2.

It's a great console, I even have two of them. Awesome homebrew support aswell if you're into that. It's like the psp 2.0 can run all sorts of emulators on there.

It's kind of a strange case as Nintendo are fixing this issue for free even when out of warranty every time it's requested by the customer

I'm assuming this case is lawyer driven for their own profit motive as I doubt any benefit for the customer will come out of it that's not already supplied by Nintendo's free repair, as for the Lite I don't think those few cases of drift is wear and tear as its on new units, it's more just regular manufacturing faults that Nintendo will fix free anyway    

Right.  And, that's the problem.  Nintendo knows there's a problem, yet they continue to sell hardware with the problem included.