I was wondering what type and strength of surge protectors are really needed to protect your electronics such as Tivo, a plasma and a recorder altogether. They vary so much in kinds and choice that it's hard to know which one is right. I have been researching a lot and came up with these two from Amazon. I thought I could use the bigger one for the three appliances and the smaller one for my laptop. Does anyone have any preferences that they would rather go with? I found that Tripp lite is supposed to be a good brand but not sure about any of the features and other details on surge suppressors that are necessary. I don't want to overbuy if I don't need to but where I live we get a lot of electrical storms. I usually unplug things then but I may not always be home. I know that none will protect from a direct hit but the power goes out a lot and that must produce power surges. The one I'm using now is just a power strip I think called Pure /AV. It has separate plugs for each appliance such as tv, dvd, etc. It looks alright but I'm not sure how safe it is.
Something I've wondered about when I read all the reviews on Amazon of a product such as this is, how do people 'know' how well or not a surge protector is protecting them under normal everyday circumstances? Some reviews and replies are after only having it a short while. Thanks for any thoughts, Sandra http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0002QPC28/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-TLP810NET-Suppressor-Transformers/dp/B00005T3Q2/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_b
