I will say it's important that the soldering iron be temperature controlled. It's especially nice if it's one with the temperature sensing integrated into the tip in a cartridge (like the ones you suggested).
Also, 63/37 tin/lead "eutectic" solder is the easiest to use. Wash your hands after using it, or wear gloves. 60/40 solder is almost as easy, and cheaper. Lead-free is more difficult, especially for learning. Learn with lead solder, then switch to lead-free.
I think there's no real need to learn with leaded anymore now that we have temp controlled irons and better fluxes and such.
Wearing gloves and washing your hands five million times is more annoying than just using lead free.
And even with perfect precautions, the flux expands and makes it spit tiny little balls, which then contaminates your whole work area with a somewhat fine dust.
> Wearing gloves and washing your hands five million times is more annoying than just using lead free.
RoHS was more about removing lead from electronics as a whole than health risk to an individual from soldering. To put it into perspective, if you lived in a city before the 1990s, you've already inhaled more lead than you ever will from soldering.
Flux can be hazardous too, even if your solder is lead-free.
But in a non-occupational exposure setting you're not likely to have issues if you solder occasionally even with lead solder and don't take any precautions.