^ Sure there is. If a surge shunting component fails, it will usually look the worse for it, and some have LED indicators to show some level of protection still exists.
It is false to suggest surge protectors only last 2-3 years. One could last a single surge the same day it's installed, or well over a decade. Rather it is far more complicated than that. Basically the lower the surge voltage limit, the more often and higher a magnitude surge they will shunt, wearing the components faster, and of course some sites have far more surges and at different voltages than others.
However these components can be in parallel or higher current rated to last longer, and/or have parallel methods of shunting excess voltage or buffering peaks. Extra protection beyond a mere 3 MOVs adds significantly to the cost not just in component BOM but also due to the luxury price tiering structure of such devices.
Whole house surge protectors do tend to be better made, unless you buy generic Chinese junk, and will be a superior option for the majority of high magnitude surge sources. However they will have limited effectiveness if the surge is from another device on the same circuit for example equipment with large motors such as refrigerator, A/C, etc.
Why is it a lot of power strips to replaced? Many things aren't particularly surge sensitive. Granted more are today with every other thing having smart logic controls that predecessor devices didn't have but I'm thinking mostly of higher ticket appliances.
Since you seem very concerned, I would get the whole house protector, not replace it every 2 years, and also use decent quality (not $15 specials) surge strips on anything particularly valuable and voltage-spike sensitive.
Keep in mind that low cost surge protectors are little more than two or three MOVs soldered between the live, neutral, and ground. You could add that basic protection to anything you own, or replace those MOVs on the cheap surge protectors that have nothing more. It only takes a soldering iron and 5 minutes...