surfinsparky:
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It is also nice to get one with a indicator.I don't think they can handle too many spikes.

Very true. Most units have MOV's (Metal Oxide Varistors) as the primary surge components, they are deliberately designed as "sacrificial" elements. Open up a strip that has failed and look for the remains of a disc-shaped component, that's your animal.
Their ability to absorb surges weakens with repeated surges. For a critical application in a highly-surge prone area, annual replacement would be a good idea. High-quality units have fuses which will open when the arresting capability is exceeded, protecting the connected equipment and the strip from catastrophic failure.

renosteinke:
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while the point-of-use stuff will protect you from stuff created within the house....by, say, a loose connection on a shared neutral.

Probably, maybe, sort of. I say this from experiences, because a lot rides on the clamping voltage rating of the protector.

Case #1 was a P.A. amplifier on a portable genny. Standard surge strip, after a few hours of run time, the generator suddenly labored and almost stalled, this accompanied by smoke from the surge strip. Killed genny, opened strip to see the Line to neutral MOV burned out. Restarted genny, found that due to overspeed, it was outputting 158 volts!! P.A. amp was quite hot but not damaged.

Case #2 was an open neutral situation. Surge strip burned up, damaging the floor it was on, and the connected equipment (Sat dish, VCR, DVD and Surround Receiver) were all destroyed. After the fact (who knows how high voltage really got) measured 194 volts with my Fluke 36.

Many surge strips will still let through harmfully high voltages to the equipment with little or no clamping action. Perhaps one of the higher-grade with the fuses I mentioned above would've done better, but there is still a time factor which makes me think that they still wouldn't protect adequately.

American Power Conversion "APC" makes many high-quality products, including some line voltage regulators and UPS' which automatically bring out-of-range voltage to safe levels. Extreme overvoltage results in a shutdown to protect the equipment.
http://www.apc.com

In Case #2 I used their regulator to help protect against any further problems. [Linked Image]

In any event, as others have stated, it doesn't hurt to combine panel-mount and point-of-use TVSS anytime there could be surge issues.


Stupid should be painful.