You can get Susato recorders. I have some: G sopraninos and altos. They sound exactly the same as Susato whistles at the same pitch - the only difference is the fingerhole spacing, which gives you more chromatic flexibility and (useful for Scottish pipe tunes) a mid-range A that isn't overblown and is fingered closer to the way it is on the pipes.

But they sound just as bad as Susato whistles at the high end. Mostly I stay in the lower octave with them. Increasingly I'm using Italian-type G ocarinas instead, which also cover the pipe-tune range but with far greater power. (OK, you don't always want enough grunt to shout down three accordions).

You can't get cheap G alto recorders from any other maker, but for C and F pitches (equivalent to D and G whistles respectively) the not-quite-bottom-end Yamaha and Aulos models will knock the socks off any whistle you can buy for several times the cost of the Susatos.

Recorder fingering is MUCH easier than trying to halfhole accurately. It's a very clever system, pretty logical, and not hard to learn. Just sit down for an evening and play scales in different keys, slowly, thinking about what you're doing and listening carefully. The penny will drop.