I have this exact same model (42w2), and for the most part I am pleased with it. The pros are that you get a LOT for the price. The cons are that, compared to more expensive models, the picture quality isn't that impressive. However, that's to be expected considering it IS a bargain-priced screen.
Mine is a bit over a year old and has performed almost flawlessly. The only hiccups I have are as follows... First, despite being a 1080p TV, it produces artifacts along color edges whenever I feed it a 1080p source (such as a Blu-Ray disc playing on my PS3). The 1080i coming from my HD DVD player, and 1080i from PS3 games, perform beautifully. But changing the settings to 1080p creates artifacts. A little research on AVSForums led me to believe that this is a firmware issue, and that some people have actually been able to get their TV's exchanged for one with a newer firmware, under warranty.
The other issue, also rare, happens if I try to change the input source at precisely the same moment the TV tries to put itself into standby mode. What happens is that the TV locks up and the only way I've found to un-stuck it is to unplug the power cord.
The only other thing I dont' like is that there is only 1 HDMI port. Westy makes a newer 42" model that is nearly identical to thsi one (I forget the model #) that has I think 4 ports.
Despite these issues... I haven't seen reason to get my TV traded out for a new one, though I am toying with the idea more so to upgrade to the 47" rather than to get rid of these rare problems. I've been happy with the TV, especially at the price it's at, and would have to say that I did get more than I would have expected from a TV in it's price range.
I suppose if I were pickier about picture quality I would have opted for a nicer TV. But, I'm more into audio quality so I splurged on that side of the fence.
edit: Here's a more recent model... the one I tried to reference above:
Text
Facebook
Twitter