I do not use the Pulsar stuff as the results I get are good with standard glossy picture paper.
With toner transfer you pretty much know how the board is going to look like by the quality of the toner on the board. Occasionally I've accidentally put my finger on the board before doing the transfer and the toner doesn't stick to a spot, but I just clean the board off and restart. You lose nothing but time in this case.
If you are looking for something that works 100% all the time, even manufactured PCB's can have issues.
I recently did a two sided board with a chip with 0.4mm spacing leads which turned out pretty good. I was really happy since the pads are 8mils and they came out perfect.
It's a practice makes perfect thing, though, and I can see how the Pulsar paper would cut down the learning curve and get you up to making good boards quickly.
Your friend is using photo-resist method. I have no experience with it, but people tend to swear by it's ability to get quality results, so if he's having issues, it might just be his technique.