Good or Best Surge Protector

Worth noting the let-through voltage of RG's whole house surge suppressor is comparable to that of most others, around ~ 400 volts, while Zerosurge, Furman and others have significantly lower for their strips and conditioners.

The point is that having multiple layers of surge protection is essential.

Well, I guess I would add...

I have not experienced, but read of lighting striking near a house and frying half the electronics within without touching the electrical.

It is extremely rare, but it does happen.  If you are playing the odds this is not the bet to take, anymore than not wearing a seat belt because you think getting thrown clear of your car is a good idea. 99.9% of damaging power surge issues won't be like this.

It's important to note that in-panel / in-meter surge protectors have been added to the NEC because of life-safety issues as much as anything else.  Whatever you do, this is the one thing you really should.

I do go 1 step further btw, I also air-gap my incoming Internet connection via fiber adapters. 

Best,

Erik

A whole house + point of use is really best. The whole house is good, but the let through voltage is still high for your delicate gear.

Surge protectors from Brickwall, Furman and TrippLite have much lower let through voltages, so the combination of in-panel and point of use is essential, and what’s recommended. :)

I live in SC now and we get real thunderstorms, and I use what I’m recommending: Whole house by the panel maker, Furman for my audio gear and TrippLites elsewhere. During a bad one my smart light switch had to be reset, but nothing on my Furman or TrippLites had any trouble at all.

I’m not a big believer in uber pricey sockets, but if you are moving into a new home, replacing existing one’s with commercial grade, tamper resistant outlets is probably worthwhile, especially if they’ve used backstab connections. The combination of aging socket + poor reliability of those connections is a real headache Go ahead and replace them for peace of mind. Should be ~ $30 for a pack of 10.

One thing I thought of is that you may want to keep an eye on your voltage for a while before deciding.  This will tell you if you need a conditioner with a built-in voltage regulator or not.  If the voltage is good and stable, then  you don't, but if you see it drop below say 115 or above 125 you probably want one.

Make sure to get a whole house surge protector.  Those will help a lot of things, including preventing fires in the wall wiring.

For your most precious gear I recommend Furman with Lift and SMP. 

Keep in mind a lot of boutique power conditioners are not actually tested or listed as surge suppressors.  Make sure any you buy are.