I know what you mean about pitch pipes Ian - absolutely useless imho.
I used to tune my guitar at the 5th fret and always struggled a little, until I learned the harmonic tuning method (5th to 7th fret for first 4 stings) which takes the hard work out of it as you are not listening for the note itself but for the 'beat' which disappears as it comes into tune. Much more reliable - more reliable even than the electronic tuners discussed above. Also, once you have lightly touched the string to create the harmonic you dont have to fret it so your left hand is then free to change the tuning head whilst the note still sounds.