"Tripp Lite" serves its purpose.
It has to be strong enough to support your rig? How many joules does that Tripplite claim to 'absorb'? Hundreds? Thousand? Potentially destructive surges can be hundreds of thousands of joules. How is a near zero Tripplite strong enough?
As others have accurately noted, blackouts do not harm hardware. Surges occur maybe once every seven years. If a surge does exist, then everything (most that are less robust) must be protected. Protection is also desperately needed for a dishwasher, dimmer switches, furnace, LED & CFL bulbs, refrigerator, door bell, recharging electronics, garage door opener, GFCIs, central air, every smoke detector and that near zero joule Tripplite. How many have been damaged by surges this week?
Blackouts do not damage electronics. Brownouts may be problematic for motorized appliances. 120 volt appliances, before PCs existed, would withstand up to 600 volt transients. Many electronics today are not damaged by thousands. But everything remains at risk if one has not properly earthed a 'whole house' solution. Only that has numbers that define actual protection. Tripplite clearly does not. So that recommendation did not include the always required spec numbers.
Protectors do nothing for blackouts or brownouts. Each is a completely different anomaly. Did solutions exist for each anomaly. Obviously, any recommendation must also include spec numbers that say why it works and by how much.
Yes, strong enough to support the rig. As i said if you're pushing too much power through an underrated surge protector or power strip it will pop the breaker in it. That's moving backward at that point.
A middle of the road tripp lite protector is good to the ball park of 1500~ joules, and yes as you said, if lightning strikes too close it doesnt matter what type of protection you have, anything is going to get fucked regardless. While the topic is about blackouts and equipment, surge protectors are good for other reasons beyond that.
Surge spikes by running too much power at the wall, old houses and out of date wiring, could help prevent fires. Not everyone lives in a modern society where every house or building they enter is up to date in wires and electrical circuits and breakers. (Even in the states)
Sometimes i leave a little wiggle room for an inquirer to do their own reaserch, so pardon my lack of "spec numbers".
Even under bitmains list of reasons of voided warranty it's stated:
"b. Damage caused by poor power supply, lightning or voltage surges;"
So if your home or facility faces any of the problems i stated above and you tell bitmain "i lost power during a thunderstorm and my rig doesn't work anymore" they're gonna tell you to kick rocks.
You seem very well versed in this area (much more than i am). While protection against close lightning strikes is damn near impossible, there are a number of reasons they are necessary and saying they're not is like saying that since its not 100% guaranteed a condom will prevent inception of offspring and contraction of STD's, im not wearing one at all.