The Nikon F601 can take better photos for prints than my Nikon D800 digital.
It’s not for sports yet it’s as fact as on autofocus as the later F801s - using the same AF module.
The only thing is that, like the F90S/N90X it doesn’t do VR. You’ll have to buy the F100 or at least the new plasticky F75 or F80 for that - but the F601 is far better built, plastic on a metal chassis.
It’s amore elegant camera than the F90X/N90S. It has better continuous AF focus than the later F801s. So if you can’t get a good copy of the F802s this F601 will suit you just fine instead.
Fabulous to shoot with, although I only used it a few times I never once missed a shot and all the outdoor portraits I took were focussed nice and clear, better than digital prints anyday.
The Nikon F601 was a great camera in its day, though I preferred the manual focus Nikon F301.
Of course you can manual focus the F601, and you get red dot confirmation of focus, but the F301 has a more metal body, I feel. The F301 strikes me as a mini F3, while the F601 is more like a Nikon F4 with the AF.
For sport/fast news you want fast digital cameras like the D850 today.
For anything else cameras like the F601 are fine if you’re in no particular hurry but rather want to stand and stare, compose and shoot that masterpiece.