I was generally partial to needle bearing headsets as in my experience ball type bearings had more of tendency to pit/index over time.

I can't remember the manufacturer but in the early-mid 90s I had a great needle/roller bearing headset that I installed that had conical shims that sat between (above and below) the needle bearing and the race surfaces. I remember thinking this was a neat design as one would only need to replace the shims and the bearings instead of the actual cups should damage occur, this headset worked great until the bike was stollen upon which I hoped the damn thing exploded on the mfker.

My current bike has a threadless fork and uses a Campy hidenset...so I have no recent experience with 1" headsets but I have heard good things about Velo Orange products. If you are going to do the install yourself and have any problems with the product or any questions you may have an easier time getting in touch with Velo Orange than Tange...but YMMV.

-j