We have always used a surge protector on our RV and also have a whole house surge protector on our house. We had the experience a number of years back that while we were on vacation the local utility dropped the 6KV line on the low voltage line. This caused the circuit breaker to trip that has our alarm system on it. We found out there was an issue when we received a low battery warning from the alarm company. Other than that there was one remote-controlled power-line switch that was fried and had a carbon track across it.
So since then we have had good surge protection, both at home and away.