Honestly, ivan774 has a point. The whole toner debate feels like it got way out of hand. It's just a liquid you put on your face, not a magic potion. If your cheap one works for you, that's all that really matters. People act like you need a chemistry degree to pick one out.
Sounds like that fancy toner was too busy reading its own five star reviews to actually do its job. My old twenty dollar one could find a break in a cable buried under my neighbor's bad attitude. Sometimes the expensive gear is just paying for the box it came in.