I feel your pain, my F2 power button went bad not long after I got It but I just never got at around to sending it in because I was using it all the time and found a ton and just didn't want to be without it even for a few weeks...and I had 2 other detectors I could have used it I wanted to.
I just pulled the batteries out to kill It and I put them back in to power up when I hunted and that became normal.
Still, I wished I had sent it in when I still had the warranty, one day I might sell it or give it away to a friend or something and it would be nice if it worked as it should.
It is not as simple as switching out the front panel, anyway, most of the time these are not single pieces and even though the company is happy to send you some parts like arm pads and other low level parts, anything electronic and important you will never get your hands on unless you go the the factory and steal them out of parts bins.
My F70 with the same setup is a sandwich with the face, another piece underneath and both attached to a ribbon wire connector...which does not detach easily at all.
I only opened it up to clean a bit of dirt off the inside of the screen that was bugging me...when I opened it I saw actually what you had to go through to do this simple thing and realizing how much can go wrong in a second with just a little bad luck I buttoned it back up and I will never open it again.
Unless you really know what you are doing I would even think of attempting a repair because tearing that wire can destroy the detector and force FTP to charge you to repair it all.
It doesn't matter if the button is actually bad, they don't like you getting inside for any reason.
If you have a warranty use it...they will repair the pad and any other issues they find, test it and send it back to you on their dime...all it will cost you is shipping one way.
Your cheapest and best option.
