TR, the cost appears to be cheaper than I orignally thought. I will definitely look at it as part of my initial generator setup. I've done a ton of electrical work over the years...always to code and passed inspections...so I'd be pretty comfortable doing the connection myself.

Where we live, our power is rock steady, we're only a few miles from a major hydro-electric plant, and uphill from it fortunately. Hurricanes are pretty much non-existent (last one was 1962) so my concern is more with earthquakes. If a big ones hits, there may be so much damage to the house that some if its internal wiring fails. So, when I do the install, I'll go with a transfer switch, but I'll also plan for other alternatives. As always when considering survival issues, Plan A should be backed up, at the very least, by Plan B and Plan C. Thanks for the great advice, it's truly appreciated.