In a variety of motor models, the effects of iron-loss (ILS) on motor control accuracy and efficiency are generally ignored. This makes it difficult for the motor control system to obtain accurate control parameters (especially on high speed and low load conditions), and limits the improvement of motor control accuracy. This paper aims to clarify the influence of different ILS modeling and observation methods on motor control performance. Three equivalent models of motors with iron losses are compared. These models are: A parallel model, a series model and the simplified traditional model. Three tests are conducted to obtain the effect of ILS perturbation on ILS estimation results, and then to derive the sensitivity of the motor state and torque to the perturbation. These test conditions include: Ideal no-load, heavy-load, locked-rotor, and ILS perturbations during speed regulation. Simulation results show that the impedance and excitation characteristics of the series model and the parallel model are similar, and the traditional model has the best speed regulation smoothness. The ILS estimation errors of the series model is nearly constant and easy to compensate. For accurate ILS observation results, the series model can achieve better control accuracy.