Hello from Nevada.  I just purchased a P3A refurbished from DJI.  If it wasn't for the refurbished sticker I would swear it was brand new.  Everything is checking out so far so if the winds stay calm I plan on a first flight this morning.

One thing I wonder about though is firmware.  The controller says it is up to date but I get the firmware update required message for the aircraft and battery.  I have not updated firmware yet.  I'm hesitant after reading of all the update problems and I want to see how she flies as is.  Quick question, where can I find the current firmware version?  In the status menu all I see is the update required message.

I'm looking forward to learning and participating in the forum.

Welcome and congratulations on your purchase. Indeed those refurbished aircraft do look and function as new
It appears they they may have included a new battery but it just needs to be updated.
Since the aircraft is all updated you can just download the 1.8 firmware zip file to your computer and extract the BIN file and put it onto a freshly formatted SD card.
Put it into the aircraft and power only the aircraft on (no RC) and it will update the firmware in the battery and it will ignore the aircraft since it is already updated to 1.8.
You can either leave the firmware on the SD card in case you get more batteries or what I do is delete it and if I ever need the firmware again I just download from the webpage again.
http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-adv/info#downloads

Thanks Ken!  It was calm this morning so I went to the desert for a first flight.  I like it!  Easy to fly.  Camera worked as it should.  The only issue is a few times now I have lost the video when I start recording.  The drone still flies, just no video.  If I shut everything down and restart, the video comes back.

I'll probably update the firmware later today.  Supposed to be windy later so no more flights today.

I like it.  If it keeps working as it should I'll be a happy guy.