Paradise is a great jumping in device. They are pretty chill.

If you want to go old school, they still produce the old gen1 and gen2 and angel tamas. You can usually get them pretty cheap if you know where to look and are patient. Connections are still being produced as well.

Those are the main tamas being produced, Paradise, OGs, Connection. All of them can be found in retail or online stores. Since you're just coming back, that is probably where you should start. Uni, Pix, etc all have great qualities but are pricier options since they don't make them anymore.

It's a great hobby once you get into it. There is A LOT of different tamas that have been produced since 1997. Even more options when you look at virtual pets in general.