As far as surge protectors becoming useless after one trip, I can only offer my anecdote. Whenever we run our toaster and microwave at the same time, it overloads the circuit (we have an old house.), then we have to go into the garage to reset the switch. The best solution is to not run them at the same time, but sometimes we forget. Now that we have a surge protector, we can just flip the little switch, instead of having to go all the way out to the garage. My guess is that it's happened at least half-a-dozen times in the last year, and it still works. I don't know how common this is.
I just looked at it, and I can't find the rating, although I can say it's more of a middle of the line. Clear as mud, right?