I would recommend getting a good UPS vs. a simple surge protector. Besides being excellent surge suppressors in their own right, UPS's will also protect you from under voltages ("brownouts") and over voltages ("slow surges"). Not to mention that the battery will hold up your equipment long enough for a clean shutdown (if you happen to be talking about computers). APC makes decent UPS's that don't cost very much.

UPS's are also handy emergency gear above and beyond protecting your computer (or whatever). If you have a long blackout you can charge your cell phones with one. I used one to power my digital piano during a blackout once so I could keep practicing. A small 500VA unit keep the piano going for just shy of four hours, and that was after it had served it's main duty in bringing the computers down gracefully.