Patenting a product

[Mudgey]

Hello,

I have an idea for a product that could potentially be a high revenue product, my question is is it worth patenting a product? There is currently nobody offering this item but it wouldn't be too difficult for competitors in the same markets to develop their own once they saw it.

Is it expensive to patent an idea, renew it yearly and then if somebody does copy it how can you protect it?

I would be interested in hearing from other people who have been through this process.

Cheers!