I was wondering the same thing myself, I recently bought a 6 gang individually switched power strip, it's good being able to switch individual devices off without haveing to unplug them. It doesn't have surge protection though and finding one that does which also has individual switches was very difficult.
After reading this whole thread I don't see any major reasons for or against.
It's interesting to learn that the surge protection has a limited life span though, I did not know that. For me that alone makes them a waste of time, what's the point of using them if there is no way of knowing when they fall back to a normal power strip! Whether they actually offer any protection at any level or not!
For me, the fact that surge protection generally isn't available on the individually switched 6 gang strips and the fact that there is no way of telling when the surge protection is spent means I won't be bothering with surge protected strips anymore. The extra cost and inconvenience just is'nt worth it for what seems to be little to no protection.
After reading this whole thread I don't see any major reasons for or against.
It's interesting to learn that the surge protection has a limited life span though, I did not know that. For me that alone makes them a waste of time, what's the point of using them if there is no way of knowing when they fall back to a normal power strip! Whether they actually offer any protection at any level or not!
For me, the fact that surge protection generally isn't available on the individually switched 6 gang strips and the fact that there is no way of telling when the surge protection is spent means I won't be bothering with surge protected strips anymore. The extra cost and inconvenience just is'nt worth it for what seems to be little to no protection.