In my opinion, the Google keyword tool is one of the most powerful tools. I have used it and it provides with the best of information. The SEO activities can be made better with the Google tools. Google will definitely dominate for a long period of time.
1. what keywords you're researching? I doubt that there is a keyword with 0 search per month unless it's a very nonsense one like "SEO dah" 2. well, I'm curious about that too