Don't take the protections you have for granted,it may happen that right when you need them they won't work.
I know of one instance when,after remaining with an unnoticed high Vs (due to autochange during alt aquire while setting a higher altitude) ,the plane slowed to stall speed,and protection didn't work.Fortunately there was no turn on ongoing flight path,and pilots managed to realise the extremely slow speed,due to unusual quiet cockpit,and accelerated the plane.If I remember corectly the speed was around 150-160 kts at Fl 270 (but I may be wrong)
So,don't use Vs just reliyng on auto-protections,or you'll find yourself in trouble someday.
I'm using managed speed mode (VNAV on the 737) and at 1000' to LVL off,I select 1000'/min Vs,also for TCAS reasons.