There are some intermediate drones in the $200-300 range that work with a regular RC transmitter, and still have GPS which is VERY useful for steady flight (not drifting with wind), and to automatically fly back in case of a problem. Although, a lot of those also have their own transmitters, and might not be able to use a normal R/C transmitter (I've not kept track).
The thing about those is their camera systems do not tend to often allow for actively pivoting them downwards or up to just past horizontal. Also, their WiFi video range tends to be pretty short, like a few hundred feet. While the Mavic types can fly for miles, the range is that good (though the video might cut out after 1.5 to 2 miles, I've never flown that far away), and if they fly out of range they automatically use RTH to fly back.
If I wanted to try to get around software limiting where I could fly a drone, I'd need to use one of those intermediate drones, that would not have that "feature", and pay extra to get a FPV goggle set-up ($100-200) to be able to see more easily where it was going, with much better range than the WiFi video signal that many of the intermediate drones use. And maybe there is an intermediate drone that can tilt the camera downwards and upwards. Or, buy a used old drone before that software was required but that would be a short-term fix.
But also, most of those intermediate drones, have the camera fixed to the body. While the more advanced drones have the camera suspended on an automatic gimbal mount. So that the image from the camera is incredibly steady, even if the drone is being knocked around by 20 mph wind gusts, or the drone is pitching itself 15 degrees down to fly into the wind (or hover in place into a 20 mph wind), without also pitching the camera 15 degrees down. The steadiness of a good gimbal camera is amazing.
I know I could cobble together a drone without any of the GPS "Fencing" problems, to fly freely, and still have GPS for holding steady and flying home, and even being able to program it to fly a pre-set route. Because I have used such a controller and GPS for the three homebuilt drones I have made (The Lunar Module Quad and Mars Lander Quad being the last two). And mount a camera gimbal to it. no limits. But such a model would not be nearly as efficient as the DJI types, so not as much flying time, and a bigger model that won't fold and so more of an issue for safe storage and transport.
The Mavic that I have, is the first drone where I do not have 100% freedom to fly it like any other drones I've flown. But I am not faulting DJI for that, as FAA pressure has caused this to become a requirement for so many higher-end drones out there regardless of who makes them. And I have not kept track of intermediate ones the last few years to know which might have those automated limits and which do not.
Also, I have not really run into location limits when I've flown the Mavic, as I've checked out the places I've planned to fly it before doing so (OK, when I first got it, it had a geo-fencing limit of 1,000 feet, and it did stop when it got 1,000 feet away. I changed the settings to let it fly farther than that). There was a bike path that I wanted to get footage of, that was pretty close to the outer radius (3 mile or 5 mile) of a civilian airport. I worked out where that radius was, and made sure to keep a couple of hundred feet away from it. I did not even try to find out what would happen if I tried to fly it into that area.
The main thing that feels different to me is the actual piloting. Where the Mavic is so smart, that it mostly "lets me" make it go where I want it to (unless I tried to fly it into a restricted zone), but I'm informing the computer via the sticks, and the computer is doing the flying. And so it flies slower than I'm used to be able to fly my other drones, and does not descend or ascend as fast as I'd like to be able to.
Indeed, to even take off, I have to press an onscreen button to confirm I want to take off. So then it takes off vertically by itself and then stops at about 15 feet, to then "let me" command it to ascend and to steer it where I want it to go. And to land, when it gets to 3 feet, maybe less, it STOPS descending, then I have to press an onscreen button to confirm I want it to land, and THEN it lets the model land. Well, I can sure see how useful that is for total newbies who could really screw up a takeoff (like try to pitch it forward too rather than straight up), and also could really screw up the landing by letting the model accidentally descend onto something that would break the props, arms, and/or camera gimbal. And given how short it is, very little ground clearance from stubby legs, I'm glad it's not easy to do a dumb landing with it, that's not 100% intentional. I got one of those 30" fold-up circular landing pads to land it on, to keep the camera and the rest of it safe, and it does take a bit of time to do some horizontal corrections to center it over that pad before pressing the "OK, can you please let it land now?" button.
Where with my other drones, even with the controller set to fully stabilize it upright (it will not tilt even 1/10 degree unless I command it to), I feel like I'm in total control, but with the controller "helping" me fly it by not letting me tilt it way too far (that is, more like a co-pilot. Where with the Mavic, by comparison, it feels like I'm the co-pilot). And stabilizing to perfectly level if I let go of the sticks (I can't fly 100% manual mode like hotshot drone racers do, at least not for long without crashing). Also, I wish I could use my Spektrum DX-18 transmitter as I use for nearly everything else, rather than the DJI's little transmitter with the little sticks, and awkward buttons. . But that's not possible.
