On a whim I stopped by the local pawn shop after work and lo and behold, they had a Samsung T5 1tb portable storage on the shelf. They were asking $27, but they accepted $20.
Got it home, tested it and gutted out the mSATA drive which fit the caddy perfectly.
Loaded Windows 10 and runs like a champ.
BTW, I contacted the eBay seller informing them that the carrier they had listed as a M.2 caddy was actually a mSATA interface. They immediately refunded my money and told me to do whatever with the caddy.
So a free caddy and a 1tb Samsung 860 EVO drive equivalent for $20?
Going to keep an eye out for the 2tb edition.
Yeah, it's older and slower, but still an interesting cheap hack.