Just for perspective on my response, I've been playing mandolin and mandola for almost as long as I've played guitar, and wound up buying a harmony mandolin from a pawnshop before I even gave back the borrowed guitar and got one of my own.
I've tried one of the Gold Tone GM-6 guitar mandolins, and it has the same low end sound profile as a mandolin of the same body size. In fact, it has the same body size as the Gold Tone GM-55A mandolin, and the same bottom end.
The instrument goes a minor third below mandolin, so there's not really a point of comparison for how a mandolin sounds on the low E3.
It's mostly playing style which determines whether one hears an instrument as more a mandolin, or guitar, or even steel-string uke.
Regarding sparkle on an F mandolin's low end, I don't believe that sparkle is normally a desirable sound. In fact, normally over at the Mandolin Cafe, there is much more emphasis on a woody tone, bark and the all important chop, as demonstrated in that last video I listed.
Regarding loop-end strings for instruments, I'm used to buying ball-end strings when i can't find a loop end, and then carefully crushing the ball end with small channel lock pliers on both sides of the loop while avoiding having the loop itself between the jaws. On this kind of instrument, with the scale length being a little longer than half of a guitar's, that means one can use the same string set as on one's guitar and get much the same tension.
This is just from my own experience. As always, I encourage those interested to do research and not take my word on things.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck!
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