I’m a journalist. I write a lot. Right now I use a kaweco perkeo all black fountain pen. But I want to upgrade. I’m looking for a light weight no screw fountain pen in a higher price class. It has to be durable, can take a lot on ink, an edc and around the 100 dollar mark. What do you guys recommend?
Lamy Studio (either LX or Brushed Steel finish).
https://www.gentlemanstationer.com/blog/2019/11/15/workhorse-pens-the-lamy-studio
Snap cap. Takes standard Lamy nibs (although the Lx version has a nicer stealth black PVD finish) so you can swap out nib sizes if you feel your needs change. Plus, when you want to upgrade you can get a gold nib for it.
Steel is $67 at Cult Pens https://cultpens.com/en-us/products/lamy-studio-fountain-pen-brushed-steel Lx is $102 https://cultpens.com/en-us/products/lamy-studio-lx-fountain-pen-all-black
I recommend either of these models out of the Studio range as they have a rubberized section. People have complained the chromed section on the other models can be slippery. If another model excites you though you can buy replacement sections with the rubber coating https://vanness1938.com/products/lamy-rubberized-grip-section-for-lamy-studio.
Otherwise, do consider the Faber-Castel E-Motion https://www.gentlemanstationer.com/blog/2018/4/24/workhorse-pens-faber-castell-e-motion-pure-black.
It is a heavy, although well balanced, pen which may not suit very long writing sessions and it is a screw cap, but if I recall from mine it is less than 1 turn to unscrew and almost as convenient as a snap cap, plus FC steel nibs are as nice if not nicer than many gold nibs out there. I have the pure black whcih you can get on Amazon for just over $100. $147 at Cult pens https://cultpens.com/en-us/products/faber-castell-e-motion-fountain-pen-pure-black?variant=43643035910387.
Both of these use cartridges or converters so they don’t have the capacity of a piston filler but if you refill cartridges you can get plenty of pages from a fill.