When I bought my GS400, they offered 5 Panasonic tapes free of charge. Of course I used them. But then I was not able to find a store selling the same tapes. So I switched to TDK. Before switching, I cleaned the heads and everything seemed right. But after 40 minutes of use, I had the message "clean the heads". So I cleaned them once more. But now I have occasional dropouts.
Maybe I should clean the heads again but I am sure of one thing : I will not buy TDK tapes next time.
And yes, maybe a new camcorder can use TDK tapes without having dropouts. But I'm past this point.

Hey Benjamin, that's good to know. Though, I have used TDK tapes exclusively, largely because they are a consistent and economical buy at CostCo. So, I have a large collection of TDK tapes over the last seven or so years. I bought the GS250 largely as a capture device to save my higher end camcorder's heads. I'll report on clogged heads.

Though, my impression of Sony tapes is bad due to similar observations.
I have two Sony tapes, and whenever I used them, I would get the "clean heads" message on my JVC camcorder within 15 minutes.

I'm not trying to get you to use TDK tapes. I'm just stuck with a huge collection of TDKs and a brand new GS250.

Gints

Funny enough I also started the use of my GS100 with TDK tapes. I'm fan of TDK brand but after having at least one drop out or sound glitch per tape I switched to Panasonic.
The good thing in my case is exactly when I made the turn Panasonic tapes started being available at discount prices - I mean even better than TDK offer so I'm better of now.
Everyone should have in mind though that it seems there are no general rules on that stuff. For example my GS100 is very sensitive to humidity while other GS100 are not so.
Same goes for the uncompability with the TDK brand for Benjamin probably. Each cam has it's own slightly different character if you wish.

And to finish please don't make general rules on the brands and especially optical media. That you bought TDK doesn't mean it is made by TDK. I like TDK made by Tayo Yuden for example - check the code of the media with your burning software first. Beware that there are fake TDKs too!

TDK prices
 

Pricewise, it's hard to beat eight TDK miniDV60 tapes at CostCo for $20.

mixing TKD and Sony on GS250 - few problems
 

I've been faced with a situation in which I had to mix Sony DVM60 and TDK DV60 ME tapes. I was dreading the tape head situation, but overall, I've had very few problems. Largely, some dropouts occured when playing the Sony tapes, but I can't confirm if the dropouts are on the original just yet. I have not seen any messages that indicate that the heads should be cleaned.

That's interesting. Over here I pay £1.35 for Panasonic DVM60 (although it can be A LOT more) from www.kvjfairdeal.com. Sounds like for once we can get things cheaper than you in the US!

interesting
 

I had the same problem with Fuji tapes (which I bought because they were cheap) in my GS120. I switched to sony tapes, and everything has been great since then. I have 6 tapes over 2 weddings with no issues. With Fuji it was every tape...

Bill
www.grantphotovideo.com