I'm something of a "monitor junkie". Having a visual problem that doesn't let me focus on red very well I get real picky about display quality.
There are three things that most affect a person's satisfaction with a display device... focus, convergence and colour balance.
Focus is obvious... nobody wants to look at a blurry image. This is a factory adjustment, often done in a couple of seconds on moving monitors... I've seen huge variations in focus between otherwise identical monitors.
Convergence is a bit less obvious. This is about how well the colours overlap. Monitors form images from only three colours --Red, Green and Blue-- To get a sharp white line on a monitor these three colours must "converge" (land in exactly the same place), otherwise you will see a red, green or blue shadow behind the white line giving the visual appearance of a ghost image. Poor convergence can seriously degrade the quality of a display. Like focus, convergence is also set in a few seconds on the production line and can vary rather a lot between monitors of the same design.
Colour balance is important for the accuracy of displayed colours. This is another factory adjustment and it can vary rather pronouncedly from one monitor to the next. (Fortunately most CRT monitors now include Onscreen colour adjustments)
Put 6 identical monitors side by side and I can almost guarantee you will see 3 different displays. At least one will have poor focus, one will have bad convergence, one will have poor colour balance...
Because of these common variations in adjustment of CRT based monitors I *strongly* suggest that you spend some time in the store examining the display very closely, picking the exact one you want. Look at white text on a black background, which is the hardest thing to get right. Also look at coloured text... purple, cyan and yellow give the best indications of convergence... Don't waste your time on Graphic images, they will not reveal problems as quickly as bright coloured text on black backgrounds.
Don't pick by model (i.e. "give me one of these please"), resolve your choice right down to the serial number (i.e. "I want this one.").
Really... with a bit of patience (and a nice tip to the patient salesmaker) you can land a really good monitor from a bargain priced lineup.