Okay, a bit late to the party, but I'll play. As someone who owns an F2(AS), F3(HP), F4 (all three battery grips) and FE, I have a little experience.
The F4 was my first "pro" camera. I really like it, and of all the above cameras it has the best metering system (although more about that in a minute). However, it is bigger, heavier and noisier. And it's got loads of motors in it besides the electronics, if almost any one of which conks out (ask me how I know they will do that), you have an unusable and probably unrepairable camera. But they are, for their age, amazing beasts in terms of capability, and represent a quantum leap in camera tech that was quite historical. And, they are loads of fun to shoot--possibly Nikon's best manual focus camera ever overall, and the autofocus is actually quite usable, too. If you're going to shoot with flash, and want TTL--very *good* TTL--the F4 is the only way, effectively, to go out of the four Nikon film cameras I've got. But probably not the camera the OP is looking for.
The F2 is of course Nikon's ultimate completely mechanical camera. It just *feels* like it could go on forever--and, given that people like Sover Wong are basically restoring their internals to like-new condition nowadays, you probably could shoot with one for life. But the meters are a bit awkward, the camera is also large and heavy, and it's not as ergonomically smooth and shapely as later cameras. And if you want a motor drive at any point, the F2 is the least practical/convenient to use one with.
The FE? Nice little camera to carry around. Doesn't feel nearly as rugged as the "pro" cameras, but it is very capable indeed. You can shoot in aperture priority (with exposure lock available), the motor drive (get an MD-12, not an MD-11) gives it a bit of useful bulk and stability, and if you pimp it out with a K3 or E3 screen (from the FM3a), it becomes even a bit easier than it is already to use. The match needle meter is nicer than what's in the F2 or F3, especially if you're shooting in daylight. It and the F4 have the best meter displays in my opinion, because you can see quite easily exactly how much the camera says you are under/overexposing for those of us who know how to interpret and use meter readings instead of just taking them at face value. It's the most compact (without a motor drive) of the four cameras I'm talking about. And you can usually get 38 or 39 shots on a roll, exposed at whatever speed you want to shoot at with that camera even before you reach 1 on the counter.
The F3HP was the last one I bought--primarily because given that I owned the first three, I was kinda "meh" about the F3 in general. But one day not long ago at a camera swap meet, a guy had an F3HP with a couple lenses, selling them for a price that was really, really hard to resist. So I played around with the camera--and I bought it. And other than the F4, which as I said I don't think is what the OP is looking for, I found I like it a lot better overall than the other two. It has a pro feel, and a reasonably nice built in grip without being quite so big as the F4. The film advance is indeed buttery smooth. The meter display isn't so great, although the meter is very accurate, and the illumination switch is as beastly (in a not good way) as others have mentioned. I do love that you can pick up all kinds of accessories for it--screens, motor drive (a really valuable addition, despite its bulk), finders, etc.--quite cheaply, for the most part, on eBay and at second-hand places in general. Other than an FE, it's the stealthiest of the cameras I'm talking about, if that's important--it's very quiet, and especially with the original prism (or a waist level finder), it's much smaller and less noticeable than the F2 or F4.
One thing I haven't seen people mention above--unless I missed it--is that of the F2, F3 and F4, the F3 is the *only* one that will meter fully as designed with a waist-level finder, a chimney finder, or no finder at all. In the F2, any metering is entirely in the finder. In the F4, matrix and center weighted metering are done in the DP-20 or DA-20 finder, the body has only a spot meter. The F3 has a bunch of tiny holes in the mirror (if you've never noticed them, take a close look) and so the metering is done by an SPD cell in the body. So if you are going to shoot with a waist level or chimney finder, such as in macro photography, the F3 is the only camera that will meter exactly the way it normally does, and will do so with Nikon's extension tubes, too, if you're shooting closeups. I bought a DW-4 chimney finder for mine, and as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to use it for some macro work.
So, to sum up: yes, the F3 *is* a great camera, and will serve you very well indeed. Is it a *perfect* camera? No. But then *no* camera is. (I also have Hasselblads--a 500CM and 553ELX, Leicas--an M3 and M6, a Rolleiflex, an RZ67, and a Mamiya Universal. Plus a Nikon D810 and D700. *All* of them have their inconveniences, irritations, irrationalities, imperfections, and intricacies that have to be known and respected.) There may be another camera system that suits *you* better. *Personally*, I have found the awkward and unsatisfying things about Nikon cameras--and particularly the F3, as that's what we're talking about--to be *generally* less annoying and compromising than those of other 35mm camera systems I've tried. Nikons, especially if we're talking film cameras, seem to overall be the easiest system to use because the cameras are generally quite capable, they are built (even the consumer models, mostly, at least the metal ones) to very high standards and most work fine today, even the old ones tend to take batteries available today and not some extinct mercury cells or something else weird, they don't have anything egregiously off-putting about their operation or bits that are notorious for failing prematurely (Canon shutter squeal, OM prism foam, et al), they are so widely and commonly available that prices for even pro cameras are quite modest, they have a stupendously wide array of high quality lenses (most of which don't have major issues with fogging/separation/etc., plus you can use a load of Nikon's autofocus lenses on MF bodies, and MF lenses on AF bodies, unlike with most manufacturers), and they produced a vast range of accessories that will allow you to do practically anything you'd ever want to do with a film camera.
To the original question then: I vote yes.
