Micro niche site help.

I'm a newbie and I want to start a macro niche site and I have some questions for keyword research and ranking.

Basic plan is to find a product with low competition put up a "review blog" for the product, do on-page SEO, and run No Hands SEO for backlinks.

I'm using Google's keyword research tool, however I have access to Market Samurai. Is MS necessary for keyword research? I also have access to SEO Spyglass to check the strength of competitors.

I have found a keyword that is according to google's keyword tool has medium competition (bar is less than half full), 2900 exact match global searches per month. Is that too low for a profitable macro niche site? The #1 for said keyword only has 87 backlinks and majority are from article submission sites.

Another keyword is very low competition, but only 790 exact match global searches. #1 is askmen article with 3 backlicks... Is that way too low?

I guess my question is, what is the "ideal" number of exact match searches and competition range for a profitable macro niche site?

First of all, you need to look at exact LOCAL searches in order to determine the value of your keywords. Most people will tell you that if it has 1,000+ local, that it could be profitable for you.

As far as competition, medium is certainly possible to rank against, but ask yourself if you really want to put in the money and effort to do this, when you could find something to rank easier.