I have a "cheap" Whistler radar detector, bought it at Autozone, used a $10.00 coupon so it cost me $60.00. It is actually a good little detector. I bought it a couple years ago when I was headed on a road trip to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and back home to Florida. I tend to drive at or under the speed limit, whether I am on the interstate or state/local roads. Florida has some bad speed traps, so does South Georgia.
That cheap Whistler did alert me to several speed traps during my trip, all within at least a quarter to half a mile before I reached the trap, and it even alerted me to one Laser shot. I got the Laser alert about 5 seconds before I was within sight of two Georgia State Troopers on a bridge clocking everybody down below on I-75. I was kind of impressed that a cheap detector had the ability to alert me to Laser. During my trip my detector also alerted me to 6 or 8 other LEO's clocking people with K and KA band radar.
I say all this to point out that I did not buy the detector so I could drive 90 MPH to Atlanta and back. I just bought it to alert me to the revenue-generating speed traps. That is all, I just wanted the detector for an additional tool to help avoid getting stopped in a speed trap. Georgia has a "Super Speeder Law" where they can write you a big fat ticket for only going 2 or 3 MPH over the limit. Florida has a lot of towns that do the same thing. There is no industry or other way to generate revenue in those little towns, and they have to pay the mayor somehow.
On that Thanksgiving trip and any other time I use my detector, I set my cruise at the speed limit, keep my eyes peeled for LEO's, other drivers hitting the brakes for no other apparent reason, staying away from packs of other drivers going too fast, and I try very hard to drive the speed limit in a sane and courteous manner. I bought a radar detector because I just wanted any advantage I could get for avoiding speed traps, but with Laser and LIDAR the LEO's definitely have the upper hand and better advantage. If your radar detector goes off and you are going over the speed limit, you might as well go ahead and pull off to the side of the road because the LEO has already clocked you.