In light of the recent controversy surrounding its heat of formation, CF 2 O was reexamined by photoionization mass spectrometry. In particular, the CO ϩ fragment ion yield curve from CF 2 O was interpreted in terms of a retarded CO ϩ ϩF 2 process, and a more facile two-step fragmentation to CO ϩ ϩ2F. The former process produces a weak, slowly growing tail region without a clear onset, while the latter occurs at higher energy and causes a pronounced growth with a conspicuous onset, which was found to occur at р20.87 ϩ0.03 / Ϫ0.07 eV at 0 K by fitting with a model curve that incorporates ''fluctuations'' associated with second-generation fragments. This onset leads to ⌬H f°298 ͑CF 2 O͒ у Ϫ149.1 ϩ1.4 / Ϫ0.7 kcal/mol, and indicates that the older experimental values for this quantity are too low by at least 3-4 kcal/mol. While the F 2 elimination is retarded by competition with lower energy processes, the two-step process derives its strength from the FCO ϩ fragment, which assumes the role of a pseudoparent. Thus, the onset of CO ϩ ϩ2F is expected to appear reasonably close to the thermochemical threshold. Such an interpretation indicates that recently calculated ab initio values of Ϫ145.3Ϯ1.7 kcal/mol and Ϫ145.6Ϯ1.0 kcal/mol are very likely too high by 3-4 kcal/mol. In addition, the adiabatic ionization potential of CF 2 O was refined to 13.024Ϯ0.004 eV, while the 0 K appearance potential of the FCO ϩ fragment was found by fitting to be р14.752Ϯ0.005 eV. Together with the suggested value for ⌬H f°( CF 2 O), these two onsets lead to ⌬H f°298 (CF 2 O ϩ ) ϭ 151.2 ϩ1.4 / Ϫ0.7 kcal/mol and ⌬H f°298 (FCO ϩ ) ϭ 173.5 ϩ1.4 / Ϫ0.7 kcal/mol.