I didn't carefully go through every single comment, but I'm pretty sure there's one thing you guys missed. And its understandable because all these companies want you to miss it. With regards to lightning protection, there are plenty of companies that directly or indirectly lead you to believe they're products protect against a lightning strike. I'm not sure about some of the industrial units that others have mentioned, but the ones for AV use, really can't protect against a lightning strike. This is a gray area, because these companies really do protect against lightning. They do it in the for of insurance. Each company has its own procedure, but you send them some info on your system and ho policy, and you have lightning coverage (hopefully).
I only know this because I used to be a Panamax dealer years ago. They would rather offer you lightning protection even if their products can't do it, because that's what customers expect. Everyone's afraid of lightning. They feel they would lose far more business by not covering for lightning damage than if they just paid for peoples systems in the event of a strike.
Personally, I don't have an issue with them doing it this way because it looks like there aren't any reasonably priced solutions. Better the insurance than nothing. But I think they should be very clear about the insurance. I know a lot of people will just leave they're systems plugged in all the time because they feel the surge protector is protecting them, not the insurance. Add to that, most customers have no idea they need to send in all the info in to be covered, so they end up with no coverage and don't know it.
