>>2868024FE is perfectly reliable, so is any other of those similar Nikons from that era. Those cameras were pretty much Nikon's golden age and they're all great.
People just prefer the F3 because it's the professional model of that generation, the F[letter] models were still excellent but they were a step below the F3 overall. The F3 has little things like all the optional focusing screens, the HP finder prism which gives a better viewfinder view with glasses, the 80/20 centerweighted meter rather than 60/40 (however the FA beats all of the other cameras with its matrix meter), a smoother film advance feeling, the cool sexy sports car styling.
As far as the actual quality of the photos, there is no difference at all between any of the cameras because obviously they all take the same lenses. And the FE is cheaper and slightly smaller.
