any recommendations for surge protection/battery back up for desk top?

[Afromania]

3. Those stupid APC replacement batteries are crazy expensive.

I usually get replacements off amazon that fit the APC's I have. I've come to gripp with the fact that no matter what the actual usage of the batts are I'm going to be replacing them every 3 years; give or take. Infact, just recently did a round of replacements as they all began their angry red flashing at 3 years on the dot.

Interestingly, the 3rd party ones I've purchased have a larger capacity than what APC is selling for a fraction of the price. For some reason APC thought it was a good idea to start putting batteries in that don't fill the entire battery compartment a few years back. Instead, they using smaller yield batteries with big rubber spacers attached to the sides. This was 4-5 years ago so I don't know what they are currently up to.