I will check out Lowes next time we are over there. $2.50 is close enough to the price of CFL's to make it worth the swap.
I've had a whole house protector for about 15 years. It is probably worn out by now.
Telemechanique (I think it was them) did extensive research on surge protection about a decade ago. Their conclusion was that surge protection should be layered and distributed throughout a system.
An engineer at our local electrical cooperative agreed. They offer a service that includes a high level suppressor on the meter and several plugin units to place around the house. The price was reasonable but after the fight I had with the phone company over their worn out avalanche protectors I didn't feel comfortable with a monthly service that may not have been supported down the road.
We live on a large lake. The first year we were here we went through five or six phones, several modems, and a $600 fax machine. Cutting the phone line solved most of the problem.
The whole house protectors I've seen at the box stores are rather pitiful in terms of quality. Perhaps they are better now.
High end Trip-Lite computer surge protectors have been the best for me. I use one on my new electronic washing machine so it doesn't end up fried like my neighbor's machine.
The local appliance shop says the new washers and dryers are completely defenseless against lightning.
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