My girlfriend has a CRT that was just plain dark. Nothing else to it. Eventually I picked up a used viewsonic CRT for her that was in good shape. No idea why but that old monitor of hers just wasn't capable of looking "normal" no matter how much you tweaked wither the monitor settings or her video card settings. I use a viewsonic 19" CRT myself at home.
Some LCDs are great, the only real "blanket" problem with them is that they tend to be subject to blurring artifacts if you play any games with a lot of rapid motion. Otherwise, I think they're great. I use a 19" dell flat panel at work and I'm quite happy with it. No eye strain, good color, bright, pretty good range of viewing angles.
