I use a UPS, which does have a surge protector built in. Since I do a lot of digitized designs, I want to make sure if the power goes down I can finish the row and then shut the machine down.
I have three of them in my sewing area now, one on the LA, one on my emboridery machine, and another for my regular sewing machines. (these three areas are not close enough to share) It's not so big of a deal where I live now, but when we lived in the country we had a lot of power blips.