Appliance retailers in Hilo?

[terracore]

I think the warning about extension cords and surge protectors are geared towards the type of overloading that can cause fires, not anything having to do with the surge protection itself. Most cheap power strips that have "surge protection" are just a labeling gimmick and have no real surge protection to speak of. They make appliance-specific surge / voltage protectors that also protect against brown outs which protect the motor, regular surge protectors don't do this.

We've had so many lightning strikes around our house I pretty much have everything routed through surge protection of some kind.