My suggestion is the Freedom when it comes to front-clip harnesses - that's what I retail because I hate the other ones on the market. I was at a seminar this weekend run by the go-to rehab specialist in Toronto and she was saying how many shoulder problems she'd seen in young dogs due to the Sensation and Easy-Walk harnesses. They are made to fit directly over the point of the shoulder so there's a lot of pressure on the joint. Freedom harnesses don't sit right on the joint, the strap sits on an angle from the chest to the withers. The back loop has a martingale - what I like is that it prevents backing out of the harness (like those stupid step in harness or buddy belts... impossible to keep on a dog who wants it off!) but what I don't like is that I think it's too big and compresses the barrel too much. I'd be happier with a shorter loop.
In terms of head collars I'd go with the halti. It fits lower on the muzzle than the GL so you have more "leverage". Just important that it fits properly, it's usually fit too large and slips around and pops off easily. I don't often recommend them becuase so many dogs hate them and most people don't want to put the owrk into DS/CC so the dog is happy about wearing it.
BUT the only ting that will teach a dog to stop pulling is training. Silky Leash is an excellent complimentary method to train along side the normal red light/green light + R+ of slack in the leash. It focuses on teaching 'give to pressure', like how a horse gives to rein pressure, and then the leash pressure tself becomes a tactile cue to cease pulling. Well trained it's an amazing tool and it can also be trained at any time, not just on walks. Here's a great article by Grisha Stewart that includes a link to the SL training:
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/leash-walking/ (Last summer Grisha said she was planning to come out with a harness of her own... not sure what happened with that!)
I'm a big advocate of having the management tool on the dog (harness/head collar) and if a person aspires to walk on the collar they can clip the leash to the collar for 10min (or whatever their attention span is) on a walk to train, then when they're not training it goes back on the harness/head collar. That way they aren't undoing their own training through inconsistency. That said, I'm also an advocate of keeping a dog permanently in a harness. Less risk of injury than walking on a collar, good management, does no harm, etc. Both my dogs are on harnesses all the time. I walk with both leashes in one hand and if they go opposite directions they can't choke each other! I've found that opposition reflex is triggered more easily on a collar than in a harness.
I would classify the looped leash in the same category as a choke or a lupi. It's really uncomfortable to have that pressure, particularly in a sensitive area, so the pulling stops for the time being (lots of dogs figure out how to tense their muscles to lean into it, or punishment callous). I would say it's an ok temporary fix if you're being pulled over, I've looped a leash under a leg before when dog walking and a halti disappeared, but it's not a solution to pulling and it's certainly not comfortable for the dog. I'd actually be quite worried about damaging the dog's penis/baculum if the leash is around the dog's waist, particularly with jerks on the leash or if he lunges.