I'd go for Ersa. According to my own experience the tips last much longer than JBC's.
QFT
A small sample of Ersa durability: I had, a long long time ago (1978?), a pencil 15W Ersa soldering iron.
The iron is long dead, but its tip has been transplanted on two other (cheaper) irons - with some mechanical effort.
The last iron with that tip is still in my tool box (in Italy). The tip coating is still as new: we are talking about 40 years.
I now have the Hakko FX-888D. If used in the preset mode (look for the magic key sequence to switch the mode) the UI is perfectly fine, after all who really needs a continuous temperature regulation? For 99.5% of my use, three presets are enough and you can have up to five, IIRC.
For the Hakko you could check
Batterfly: no shipping fees to Italy.
I got a very good service from them: courtesy (I asked to hold my delivery for some days as I went to an unexpected business trip) and quick delivery (when I was back) of my Hakko + Rigol scope.
As for DMMs, I have an UNI-T 61D, Euro version:
not recommended (I should have known better), an excellent Fluke 87-V, (only because I was able to get it new for ~220€, with a Fluke IR thermometer thrown in -
I still suspect a webshop malfunction), and am waiting for the 121GW (in March...).
I would probably go for a good Brymen, as other suggested, in your position.