My question is, are expensive power management products really worth the money? And I guess you could define "expensive" however you want to. I realize it's a category with a wide range of prices and performance. I don't know whether I should be willing to cough up a few hundred to protect a $4000 system, or whether I should keep doing what I've always done, which is to go to Radio Shack or Wal-Mart and get a $30 or $40 dollar surge protector and call it good. 
I suppose the easy answer is "ya get what ya pay for", but I really don't know what the extra money is paying for, as far as surge protection. I know there are different technologies and I have tried to educate myself a bit on the subject, but I just don't know where the point of diminishing returns starts. $50? $500? ...I dunno! 
My question is, are expensive power management products really worth the money? And I guess you could define "expensive" however you want to. I realize it's a category with a wide range of prices and performance. I don't know whether I should be willing to cough up a few hundred to protect a $4000 system, or whether I should keep doing what I've always done, which is to go to Radio Shack or Wal-Mart and get a $30 or $40 dollar surge protector and call it good.
I suppose the easy answer is "ya get what ya pay for", but I really don't know what the extra money is paying for, as far as surge protection. I know there are different technologies and I have tried to educate myself a bit on the subject, but I just don't know where the point of diminishing returns starts. $50? $500? ...I dunno!