Trumpy makes a good point - that when the surge protection works, it could need to be replaced. I suppose it must also be robust enough to survive the duration of the surge. A lightning strike can't be safely dissipated inside a house, so it doesn't need to survive that.
With a power bar, the return path to ground (or neutral if conducting to ground isn't legal) can be quite long. Might it be too long to be effective?
