No, there isn't anything wrong with using a good MOV protector such as Tripplite, Belkin and Monster. That is if you don't mind replacing the unit every 2 or 3 years. MOV's do wear out from everyday surges that you may not even notice. Something else people seem to make the mistake in is if you buy an all in one unit, phone/sat/surge, if any of these blow then you’ll still have to replace the unit. Buy a separate surge protector for your phone/cable and if you have a satellite then you shouldn’t even need one, if it has a proper grounding block.
I posted in another thread about this so I’ll just copy/paste some of it here:
I had an MOV catch fire in an APC and nearly burnt down my home not to mention, in real world use you need to replace these MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) every couple of years, meaning purchasing a new unit, MOVs are not user replaceable. I bet ya the salesman didn’t mention that. As a result I learned a lot of things about MOVs and they are useless. Once you learn how MOVs work, you’ll wonder why you ever bought one and whos bright idea it was to use them, they are outdated. I only use series mode surge protection found in the Brick Wall series There are also other Series Mode units such as ZeroSurge and SurgeX
As an example, I live in Miami Florida and when Wilma went through, a cat3, she took down many transformers and when our transformer blew it went out in a flash of glory. As a result my neighbors stove, tv, vcrs, computer, water heater, you name it, she lost it. Even things she had plugged into power strips and her computer which was plugged into an APC, fried! I had every major appliance unplugged or breaker thrown off except the refrigerator and tv. I took one of my Brick Walls and used it for the spare tv and refrigerator. When the power went I thought it was all over, I’ve never seen a transformer blow like this one did, it was quite a show. After the hurricane passed, I fired up our generator and walla, the refrigerator and tv still work. I think that’s the best testament to which is better, Series Mode or MOV.
BTW, Adcom licenses the ZeroSurge technology in their unit as well. As for independent tests, I do not have any direct links anymore but they are out there. I do have the Underwrites Laboratory pdf archived somewhere on ZeroSurge, I d/l’ed it when I was doing the research on their claims. I’m sure you could find it as well on the UL site. Another piece of useless trivia is that series mode protection was developed for the Dept of Defense who weren’t happy with MOVs.
