Bingo. If you can't afford a used Metcal, you can afford a Hakko clone and Hakko tips, and if you can't afford that, there's a pretty small gradient from a $5 Harbor Freight open-loop carpet-burner to whatever else is in-between.
A "decent" iron makes soldering much, much easier. Decent in my eyes being: has a semi-accurate temperature setting, reasonable wattage, and quick temperature recovery. This lets beginners keep the heat "low" without having issues when using small tips or soldering to the ground plane.
In the last few years though, the price for "decent" has dropped a lot. Like the Pinecil is honestly a solid option despite the awful ergonomics. And, if you're only soldering for 15-30m at a time, the ergos aren't going to be a huge issue.
Just buy a used one. They pop up with great regularity on second hand sites. If the tip isn't usable then just get a fresh tip and you should be good for many years.
The price I cited was from the article. While I didn't check the price of the soldering iron itself, I looked up the price of the tips and those were over $40. Personally, I used $10 irons for decades and only picked up a temperature controlled one (for about $150 CAD) a couple of years ago. While it was a very nice upgrade, I am firmly in the camp that you can do good work with a basic iron.
If you’re spending that much money get a used Metcal or just don’t bother.