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[151949]

We used to have an old camper from 1970. Once lightening struck a tree at the campground and the surge came through the ground to our electric source and into our camper. Fortunately, my DH had installed between the camper plug and the cord to the electric source a surge protector. OMG when we woke in the morning we had no electric but when DH went out to see what was wrong - that surge protector was actually melted from the surge of that lightening. He said it most certainly would have burned our camper and us while we slept to a crisp. The tree was totally burned, and the ground from the tree up to our camper's electric source was black. The electric outlet was melted as was the cord that we had plugged into it.I don't think prior to that day I ever understood how powerful lightening is. 

[chickenbutt]

This seems like a really great idea - if it is properly effective.    I'm not familiar with it at all.

My house is kind of large and I do have a number of surge protectors, wherever I have the larger TVs, computers, Tivos, etc.

In the several decades I've lived in this area, I've yet to see a 'surge' happen but, hey, you never know.  I'd rather do what I can to have my electronics be safe.

[151949]

My DH said the whole house surge protector is to protect the larger items in the house like the heat pump & stove,fridge and dryer. Major appliances! On our delicate electronics we still have them plugged in to surge protectors. 

[gardenman]

The whole house protectors are part of the solution, but you need more as there's often more than one path to your electronics. If you've got cable or satellite, your lines should be connected to a grounding block that's wired to a long grounding rod driven deeply into the ground. Some companies skimp a bit on the grounding rod and go with one that's shorter/cheaper and a surge will still find its way to your device through the cable feed. If your device is connected to a phone jack or whole home Ethernet system, you could get a surge through those systems also. Lightning is sneaky and can find its way to where you don't want it to be fairly easily. More protection is better than less. Many of the power strip type surge protectors will include cable jacks, phone and or Ethernet jacks also.