Surge Protectors

[Jakey]

Last week I picked up a pretty decent TV (30" Panasonic widescreen) so I would like to invest in a decent surge protector. I have plenty of the Wal-Mart cheapies but I don't even consider them to be surge protectors, more like 'I need more outlets so may as well use a surge protector.' I see that Best Buy has a pretty good selection...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=cat08028

.....however I really don't know anything about the variety of brands available. I'd be willing to spend up to $50 on a surge protector as it is going to be used for my TV, Cable, DVD player, VCR(yes I still have one), and hopefully down the road: a receiver. Plus if the price is right, I may purchase a second one for my computer.

Advice anyone?
Thanks

[clean2g]

You want to look at the joules rating on the surge protector; the higher the better. I would try to get the highest joule rating you can get within your budget. I've had a TV get struck by lightning but the surge protector I had was too weak.. I learned my lesson. APC and Belkin make the best so just stick with those and you'll be fine. If you decide to get one for your computer, you may want to get one with battery backup; it comes in handy like when you're writing a paper at 1 am and the friggn power goes out and you didn't have enough saved. We use the hardcore APC UPS/Surge Protectors at work for our servers and they rock. By the way, look online too at like pricegrabber.com and pricewatch.com, you may be able to get a steal on one.

[Matt D.]

I agree with what clean2g said, but a battery backup definitely isn't necessary with home electronics as there is no data to lose by power loss, other than maybe if you have a DVR or something like that. A small UPS won't power a TV for more than a minute or two anyway, but could run a DVR for a little bit if the power went out for a few minutes.

[Steeltwo]

buy a nice one

alot of them only protect the house from the TV.

[SuperSleeper]

Monster's surge protectors are guaranteed for life, and they'll replace anything that gets ruined while plugged into them. The more expensive ones you get, the higher the cost limit is, but the entry level is already like $10,000 warranty. That's what I'd recommend.

[StealthGST]

Just unplug it when it's gonna rain :)