There's a ton of tuners out there but this Marshall MT1 seems to be good.
It's got a needle and the LED's - which makes reading it better, IMO.
17 bucks, not bad.
[
www.musiciansfriend.com]
I personally wouldn't pay more for strings just because they have a prominent name on 'em, like Fender or Gibson.
They don't produce them, but relabel them.
There are not too many steel-mills that produce strings, so most likely you're buying the same strings with different names.
Ernie Ball, D'addario, GHS - to name a few, should be good to go.
For durabillity you could try Elixir Nanoweb.
they have this nano-coating on them that's supposed to keep the strings fresh for a longer time.