Cosmic Protypes: Unable to get lower tier tools after Research

TL;DR Reporting research data is an IRREVERSIBLE step. And there's NO way to get the previous tier tool back. If I'm wrong on this and anyone knows how, please let me know.

Cosmic Prototype v0.1 : Level 10
Cosmic Prototype v0.2 : Level 30
Cosmic Prototype v0.3 : Level 50
Cosmic Prototype v0.4 : Level 60
Cosmic Prototype v0.5 : Level 70
Cosmic Prototype v0.6 : Level 80
Cosmic Prototype v0.7 : Level 90
Cosmic Prototype v0.9 : Level 100

If you are an omncrafter-gatherer with all your classes at level 100 this isn't a problem, but if you are, say, level 15, you actually want to WAIT to research your tool until you get to level 30, otherwise you CAN'T EQUIP YOUR TOOL while you are doing the Stellar Missions to level your class. This is bad because you miss out on the Lunar Credit Bonus you get for completing a Stellar Mission with a Cosmic Prototype Equipped.

It's kinda whack that this is even a thing, because the early phases of the tool are incredibly quick to level, so if you aren't paying attention (which i wasn't at first) you quickly make a tool your crafter/gatherer can't equip until they get another 20 levels or so.

Not the end of the world, I'll just suck it up and get a normal tool from the vendor, but man, it feels like this shouldn't be the case.

Not really a solution to your specific problem, but if you put the lower-level tool in your saddlebag, it is not consumed and you end up with the new version of your tool and the old one still in the saddlebag.