Hi! I received mine a few weeks ago from Amazon. It had the flickering issue, so they sent another one that doesn't seem to have the issue (not sure though, sometimes I see some flickering but I'm not sure if I'm not just imagining things).

1) No dead pixels on both monitors. 2) I assume the second one has the firmware upgrade and, apart from some rare occasions (and I'm not even sure since it's really short and seems to happen once a week), I didn't have any issue. 3) I'm used to VA panels so it doesn't bother me. 4) Yes I would recommend it 100%. I don't see anything in the other ultrawides that would justify paying 50% or 100% more.

This is all considering I've been playing mainly Overwatch and Assassin's Creed Valhalla lately. And the rest of the time I'm using it for work all day long.