ive decided after looking through the specifications in high detail, i think the 18f2431 is probably best suited for my needs, since i noticed it does have 3 digital inputs for my 3 signals that need their frequency measured, and it has the schmitt trigger integrated into its inputs.

im going to purchase the picbasic pro aswell, but im still dubious on the programmer... the pickit2, is a good site to purchase it from? and is the basic pickit2 good enough or is the pickit2 debug express something that is more suited for my needs?
(i notice the pickit2 startup kit doesnt have enough pin slots for the 18f2431)

thanks!