Here to be blunt.
Your right a surge protector will not protect against a lightning strike. But what are the odds that lightning will strike a HOUSE? The odds are already amazingly low to strike a person, let alone a house.
So, again to be blunt, but who cares? OHHH NOES a company is lying about it product!!!!oneone11!!!
That would never happen! Yeah just watch TV for more than 30 minutes and tell me how many ads tell the truth.
So what if a "surge protector" doesnt protect against a Act of God. That is why they are called that cause there is NO PROTECTION KNOWN TO MAN. So if a person wants to plug in a Surge Protector to give themselves a piece of mind that their stuff is protected from the high and low voltages that occur on a normal household powerline, good for them. I use several myself.
But to be even more blunt, it doesnt matter if you have a proper protector or not. It doesnt matter anything at all about what you plug into the wall, if your house isnt wired properly. So really who cares about what you use at the very end of the line? Is it going to make a bit of difference in the grand scheme of things? NO.
Talking about the ratings of protectors from a lightning strike which in itself is astronomical odds of happening isnt going to do anyone any good. You could have the best protector known to man plugged in, if your house is not wired properly it aint going to make a bit of difference.