In a recent thread some people were discouraging buying a used CRT monitor, while some others thought it was fine. I just discovered that used is the only way to buy a LaCie 19" monitor of the type I wanted.

I found one that's cheap and that looks good. It's from 2001. The owner said it hasn't been used a lot. I've been able to check it out with my calibration software--it calibrates fine, with a very straight curve. To see how much life it has left, I tested to see how bright it could could be calibrated. It was able to give a flat response up to a luminance of 124. This suggests to me that the phosphors have a lot of life in them (I usually set the luminance at 100).

Is this a logical test? Is there anything else I should be looking for?