Some warranties cover the CRT, the most expensive part of the monitor, for only one year. If space is tight in a cubicle or home office, look for a monitor with a smaller footprint. Some vendors cut corners by giving you only a 3-foot cable, which might be too short if you keep your CPU on the floor. Look for a 6-foot cable. Having both a standard VGA and a BNC connector will let you attach two machines simultaneously and switch between them.
Flicker is a natural by-product of CRT technology.
An electron beam paints phosphors with electrons, and the phosphors emit light. So the solution is to use phosphors that don't glow very long, and then to repaint them very quickly. The problem is that there is no fixed rate for a flicker-free display. Some people are more sensitive to flicker than others. Also, with the move toward larger screens, more of the monitor's image fills our field of view, so we see more of the screen with our peripheral vision.