Chris Monroe/CNET
When I tested these surge protectors there were three things I looked for:
1. Well-spaced sockets: One of the most important things was having enough outlets to fit the wall wart power adapters that come with most products. These bulky connectors usually take up two or more spaces on normal outlets and power strips. I physically checked each power strip to see if its outlets were sufficiently spaced to fit multiple warts.
2. A high joule rating (preferably 1,000 or more): Joule ratings indicate how much energy a surge protector can absorb before failing. It's essentially a measure of how much protection each surge protector will offer you. A rating was required, and all my picks had ratings comparable to or higher than their competitors. It'd be great to have a minimum or recommended rating, but such a thing doesn't exist for these kinds of products.
3. Whether it came with a "connected device" warranty: I also gave preference to products that come with a guarantee in case your gear is destroyed by a power surge. Nearly all of my picks have this kind of warranty, often in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Are you likely to get your money back if your gear gets zapped? Hard to say. Insurance like this is hard to collect on, as some companies will only replace connected gear "at their option." Having this sort of guarantee does give you some peace of mind, however; more than you have without it, and perhaps it will cover you in a way your homeowners or renters insurance doesn't.
With all of this in mind, I compiled a list of nearly 50 surge protectors and then chose the top 16 to test. My last bit of testing was hands-on. Specs can tell you a lot, but very quickly I found some of these to be better than others. Some had features that seemed useful but weren't. Others were larger or smaller than they seemed in pictures, which in some cases was a good thing or in the case of the travel surge protectors, not so much. Our top picks were the ones that had the best combination of features, specs and felt the most practical in normal use.
Read more: 10 Shocking Facts About Power Strips