Also, I did have surge protectors in my main tv area, still blew a xbox 360, a stereo receiver, a dvd player, but ironically enough, it did not blow my 50" samsung LCD plugged into the same surge protector. In my office it blew my computer, monitors and a lamp, also all plugged into a surge protector. All in all it was random and did not make a difference if things were plugged into a surge protector or not.
Damage was not random. What does a surge seek? Earth ground. Everything had an incoming surge path. But only some items connected that surge destructively to earth. Plug-in surge protectors even give surges more paths to find earth, destructively, via appliances. Those plug-in protectors did exactly what the manufacturer claims in its numeric specifications.
Lightning is an electrical current from cloud, into AC mains down the street, through your appliances, into earth, then travel maybe miles to distant electrical charges. You do not stop what three miles of sky could not (even though that is what a plug-in protector is supposed to do).
Surge protection is always about the energy. Either you earth a direct lightning strike before it can enter the building. Or that surge current is inside the building hunting for earth destructively via appliances.
All appliances contain surge protection. Most so called surges are completely irrelevant even to dimmer switches, bathroom GFCIs, and clock radios. Computers are required to have even better internal protection. But the rare and destructive surge can overwhelm appliance protection. Either you earth that rare (maybe once even seven years) surge. Or it hunts for earth via plug-in protectors and appliances.
Only more responsible manufacturer make effective 'whole house' protectors such as Siemens, Keison, Square D, General Electric, Intermatic, Polyphaser, Leviton, etc. The Cutler-Hammer protector sells in Lowes for less than $50. But again, no protector stops or absorbs that surge energy. Protection is about energy absorbed harmlessly in earth. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. Which means you upgrade earthing to meet and exceed post 1990 National Electrical Code. A breaker box ground wire going up over the foundation and down to earth ground will compromise the 'whole house' protection. Too many sharp wire bends, too long, bundled with other non-grounding wires. That breaker box ground must go through the foundation and down to single point earth ground. Every foot shorter that connection to earth means even better protection.
A plug-in protector has no earth ground. It will not discuss earthing. And its specs do not even claim to provide surge protection. All three explain so much damage on electronics connected to scam plug-in protectors.
A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - where the energy from a direct lightning strike gets harmlessly dissipated.
