They won't stop a direct hit. Without spending a ton of money the only choice is to unplug it during storms.

http://stormhighway.com/surge_protectors_ups_lightning_protection_myth.shtml

As an electrician, I can tell you this is 100% correct. I've seen tons of surge protectors and appliances/equipment destroyed from direct or even indirect hits. If you're truly worried about stuff in a nasty storm, just unplug it.

If the lightning makes it through the substation it will laugh at your surge protector.

@MattElder - Usually when I see 100% I expect the next word to be wrong.

It's hard to say, as there are a lot of variables. There's several chances for the lightning to dissipate between you and a substation, but if it sneaks through it could ruin all kinds of stuff.

I don't know what happens with a lot of the things we see, but typically the insurance companies have us come by and verify that x,y, or z was probably affected by a lightning strike, and then the homeowner deals with things. The most common items we see that are affected are TVs, cordless phones (well, the charging base), GFCIs, and modems.

I have one that all my pins run on, and when not in use, I unplug the surge protecter and the pins.

Agreed...I wired proprietary circuits for mine, and when storms come, flip those breakers...physical disconnect is only way to be sure......a lot of surge protectors out there selling snake oil, kind of like "silk covered biwiring for home speakers", and the huge markup on hdmi cables until they figured out not much magic there...

Whenever I see surge protector marketing claims .... "this one is rated to 900,000 Joules" but this one says "1,250,000 Super Joules!" .... I have to ask myself "... and how many Joules are in YOUR lightning bolt today?"

I use them but more for an accessory outlet to plug in my soldering station or other stuff I might use working on a game. Lightning and spikes are hard on anything touching the circuit and its asking a lot for a surge strip of a whole house surge protector to catch everything.

A funny side note on surge protectors~

The electricians at work dropped a new 110 volt AC line for a new computer hook up on the shop floor. The receptacle was wired, hooked up and deemed "ready to use". I watched a pretty nice brand new high end PC go by on a cart destined for hook up. I was about 30 feet away and heard a really loud POP / crack followed by a white cloud rising in the air. It turns out the drop line was hooked up to 440 volts (not 110) and was plugged in. It was connected to a surge strip. A couple engineers thought the strip should have saved it but I thought that was REALLY wishful thinking.

Ah, the smell of a $2000 PC getting vaporized.....

Yep, not a chance..440v would have been three phase, and the computer never new what hit it...wonder how they were able to put a standard Edison receptacle on that line without someone squaking ....lucky no one died......

I would not let some of the "electricians" touch a toaster or Christmas lights.
All I know is a replacement power supply did not revive the nuked PC.

The overhead buss bar is 440, we have a higher voltage line above that and 220 & 110 mixed in all over the plant. When they "dropped a line" they did just that and apparently never checked the actual voltage. I know the guy that plugged in the PC was scared BIG time and will not touch anything being the 1st person.

I unplug the games when not in use. Only games on a surge protector are the GnR and its associated external sub.

The guy across the street from me is an electrician. He had a "whole house" surge protector wired in. It did'nt matter....lightening blew it and everything else in the house out.

If you wager against mother nature she always wins.

Prudent line conditioning ( constant voltage, sine wave hz verification,clean power, etc.) is a must in my industry ( pro audio), and some of the high end surge/ conditioner products work great (surgex stuff comes to mind) for that...but beyond.....I'm afraid you're right...lightning wins....it can even hit miles away and as it dissipates on the earths surface, can sneak into your rig on the back side ( how a lot of fires are started)...when in doubt, disconnect, disconnect, disconnect....