Finally caught up. I watched the original many years ago and it's strange how I don't remember a thing about the series, apart from recognizing the main characters (+ 1 or 2 more). I even went back to the old series just to see if it really had the same events going down (and most of the time it did, of course).
But judging from the responses in this thread, I guess it's for the best that the new version of HxH is basically like a new series for me. Anyway, I find it very enjoyable, they always manage to hook me enough with something in every episode to keep me going.