Fair enough. But how about apples for apples? the transzorbs in your link are rated at
only 500W. Sure the common MOVs degrade when hit with their rated 100 kW or so, but if you
hit them with only 500 W (like the transzorbs) they will last virtually forever. The
physical volume of active material is simply vastly larger in a MOV than in a transzorb.
Transzorbs are great if used within their ratings, but MOVs can have vastly higher
ratings, and can also provide good lifetime when de-rated in lower energy circuits, so
they shouldn't be dismissed without proper consideration.

Cheers, Tony



They're really aimed at different applications. MOVs are for absorbing
very large but infrequent transients, and are normally used to protect
the input side of a power supply or other device connected to an
external power or signal source. TransZorbs are for absorbing small
frequent spikes, as you'd get from switching inductive loads.

An interesting tangent, a transzorb wired to trigger a triac is a far
more robust replacement for the SIDAC used in a lot of HID lamp igniters.