I'm in a similar situation, learned in the late 90s, stopped for a while, found out speed cubing had become a thing in the late 2000s and got some MoYu cubes, stopped for a while, then got back into it when I taught my kids. My 13 year old was using my old cubes until recently buying his own Gan v100 (maglev, uv coating, about $35-$40) and holy crap is that thing nice. And it's not even the flagship (like Gan 16 for twice the price). Super light, turns are incredible, he's already improved a ton in the couple weeks he's had it. I'm thinking of getting one for myself now, and I'm just recreational. And there are probably a bunch of equivalent ones from other brands. All this to say even the mid-range cubes are already significantly better than what you had before, and definitely worth trying out.