I use a variety of tubes in my routine, I change it up every once in a while and having a variety of tubes from different manufacturers allows me some freedom from a static routine. I have owned Kaplan tubes, Newart tubes, Vaccutech tubes, and monsternuts tubes (out of business).
Vaccutech has the best acrylic, but they are fragile and if you drop them, they will break like a mothafucka, they also have a flared opening, that some of you may like, but I don't like it at all, 'cause I have a lot of sac (droopy hanging nuts) and the flare pulls too much of my sac in. I
do use the tube though, as sort of a finishing tube (it's custom sized to fit my length at 8 inches) and get great results from it (they have neat little etched ruler marks on the side of the tube to gauge your length as you pump).
I will always heavily lean on my Kaplan tubes though, they have the smoothest pull and I find that I can stay in the tube a bit longer as I pack it... the straight walled tubes get a bit uncomfortable after I pack them. They are also the cheapest at 40 bucks or so a tube. Go to
www.jnoutlet.com and get the tubes there, it is Kaplan's outlet store.
As far as a handpump, you can't go wrong with the BEST... MityVac's Silverline model. You won't be able to get them at Auto Zone, but they will last you a lifetime versus the plastic model which won't last six months if you pump regularly.
www.Pumptoys.com has a good deal on the handpumps and they are an excellent vendor.
Good luck.