Well my final update is not a good one. After many days working with support I decided to test the nuclear option. Complete factory reset of my 2865 & AP903. Log in, enable Mesh. Sees the AP903 as a wireless Mesh node but its always at an amber state. Never goes sync ready.

I've returned the AP903s for a refund.

Same.

It's unfortunate that this wasn't fixed in time. It looks like there has been some progress on this and the problem was the VigorAP 903 1.4.1 firmware, the 1.4.2 firmware should be out soon to help with Mesh problems.

For anyone seeing issues with the Vigor 2865 and VigorAP 903 in Mesh, get in touch with support to get the 1.4.2 release candidate.

That is unfortunate. I couldn’t afford to breach the 14 day return period on a handful of AP903s that may or may not be fixed within that time window otherwise I'm exposed to owning expensive doorstops with Draytek logos on them

Will happily re-purchase if someone else can confirm that everything now works.

Intriguing, as it was a change of firmware on my 2927 which fixed the mesh problem with my 903.

In my case the AP903 (1.4.1) couldn't even keen an SSID broadcasting for more than a couple of days, so it's ended up being returned as well.

The Draytek routers have always served me very well but the WiFi just doesn't seem to be happening for me.