I Did It Again Chucking My Entire Bank 150 Iq

(*** In case you missed information technology, an in-depth review was posted of the three Dash L50, M50, and L10. See the link for more info.)

What's a ix calendar month timespan between friends? A baby you say? Peradventure. Just in this case, it's roughly the filibuster that Stages incurred for their flotilla of new cycle GPS units, initially announced concluding July back at Eurobike with a planed fall shipping date. You'll remember I checked in over again back in January as well with a test ride. Well look no more than, the units are finally here and aircraft.

A pile of them even fabricated their fashion all the way to me on the other side of the world. Encounter, proof:

Now, this isn't a review. It's simply my first impressions afterwards a single ride last night on a final production unit of measurement with concluding production firmware and a final production smartphone app. Hey, fifty-fifty the paper-thin is terminal production. Oh, and the waterproof manual likewise. More than on that in a 2nd.

And to exist specific, the M50 and L10 have started shipping as of yesterday, but the L50 won't starting time shipping out for another week or two. Minor nuance I couldn't fit into my mail title without it condign a paragraph, but just a detail to signal out. As well of note is that the cost for the L50 has dropped slightly from final summer (more on that in a second).

As for my last review, expect something in the early-mid July timeframe, in one case I've had fourth dimension to put them all through their paces. I'll be primarily focusing on the M50 and L50 in those reviews, given the L10 is very similar to the previous units. Though, I'd point out that I recollect the L10 may actually be the best deal in GPS bike computers today. And by 'may', I mean 'by a massive long shot'.  Merely earlier we practise all that, permit's actually fill-in a second and talk about the specs.

The Specs & Box Nuts:

Of form, by now you've probably forgotten what the heck features these units had in them. It was nearly xi months since they announced the units. So here's the super quick primer. Oh, and in that time Stages lowered the toll of the L50 (that's the largest color one), which was supposed to be $349, and at present is at $299. A smart move for certain (it wasn't viable above $299 imho).

Note on the semi-confusing naming scheme: 1000 = Medium format, L = Big format, and 10/50 are simply series designators.  The 'first' serial got the '10', whereas this newer color serial got the '50'.

Stages L10 ($149): Essentially a revamped version of the original Stages Nuance

– Added basic route support (but no maps)
– Added pregnant processing power compared to original Dash
– Added more storage infinite than original Dash (now has 512MB)
– Added native .FIT file creation locally
– Black and white display (buttons, no impact)
– 24 hours battery life (for realz)
– GPS support (but non boosted GPS types listed for M50/L50)
– ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensor support
– IPX7 waterproofing and 'shockproof' (I believe it)
– Bluetooth Smart and USB file synchronization (no WiFi)
– Barometric altimeter
– Audio/visual alerts
– Internal temperature recording
– Structured workout support
– Course following back up (.FIT/.GPX/.TCX)
– Android & iOS smartphone app back up
– Includes all metallic out-front mount
– Weighs 102g

Stages M50 & L50 ($249/$299): Ii dissimilar units, mainly size driven (more on that beneath)

– Color screens (not-touch, encounter exact sizes below)
– Units have 16GB of storage space, 15GB of which is usable.
– Base maps loaded for US (other maps free to download via their website)
– Full course support, akin to something like the Wahoo Commodities (but not quite at the Wahoo ROAM/Border 530/830 level)
– Emmet+ & Bluetooth Smart sensor support (Cadence/Speed/HR/Power)
– GPS/QZSS/SBAS connectivity
– IPX7 waterproofing and 'shockproof' (I believe it)
– Bluetooth Smart and USB file synchronization (no WiFi)
– Barometric altimeter in both
– Audio/visual alerts in both
– Internal temperature recording in both
– Structured workout support for both units
– Course following back up for both units (.FIT/.GPX/.TCX)
– Creates .FIT files locally
– Android & iOS smartphone app back up
– Includes all metallic out-front mount
– Horizontal or portrait mode orientation options (both mount and software)
– No Realtime Strava Segments support (though, you lot can upload to Strava only fine, and besides download Strava Routes). Considering.

Differences between the M50 & L50: Information technology'due south pretty slim, as the software features are identical, it'due south simply hardware:

– M50 has a ii.25" screen, versus the L50 having a ii.57" display
– M50 has 12.5hrs battery life, versus 14hrs for the L50
– M50 weighs 94g, versus 126g for the L50
– M50 size (51mm wide 10 78mm tall x 24mm deep) vs L50 size (85mm wide 10 73mm tall x 20mm deep)
– M50 express to 12 data fields per page, versus 16 fields per page on the L50

Note that Stages states backlight battery is with 30% screen brightness setting. Again, hither's the 2-second version:

Stages Dash L10: $149 – Basically the previous Stages Dash that's far more powerful and can at present do courses. Blackness & white display.
Stages Dash M50: $249 – This is the mid-sized unit of measurement, kinda like a Wahoo BOLT or Edge 520 Plus. Color display, maps/courses.
Stages Nuance L50: $299 – This is the largest of the units, sorta like a Hammerhead Karoo in size. Color display, maps/courses.

So looking at the boxes, I went ahead and unboxed both the M50 and L50, but for this non-review piece, here's the await inside the M50:

It includes the all-metal out-front handlebar mount, plus the most erect handlebar safety strap I've ever felt in my life:

Also of annotation is that it includes a water resistant newspaper that unfolds to the size of a small bus, which contains all the regulatory type stuff in a gazillion languages. Yes, I said waterproof. What, you don't believe me? Fine, I proved it for you:

I think some of yous thought I was kidding virtually the waterproof part. No, seriously, information technology repels h2o. https://t.co/dvHFGRcVdA movie.twitter.com/V1MawyjZFA

— Ray Maker (@dcrainmakerblog) June 11, 2019

Alternatively, you can apply it equally an umbrella. It'southward what I program to do today for my bicycle ride domicile from the office since The Girl already stole my umbrella.  Speaking of Team Overkill, in that location's the accessory mountain lineup:

Seriously, they've got one for everything. I'm sure I could style one onto the domestic dog if I needed to. My item favorite is the GoPro underslung mountain, which attaches to the master mountain. I haven't attached it all the same, because I'm as well lazy to accept the included tool and disengage the tiny screws and piece information technology all together. Maybe subsequently today. Maybe afterwards some other coffee.

Only kudos to them, there's zilch I hate more than than trying to effigy out how to go a stupid custom mountain onto a new bike. Here's a quick gallery of all of them closer up:

With that, let'southward talk near my initial ride.

First Ride Impressions – M50:

With all that groundwork out of the way, let's head out onto the route. First though, I paired it upward to my Android phone. The iOS app wasn't released until after I got back from my ride, so Pixel time information technology was. They use a similar QR code scanning system equally the Wahoo BOLT/Element/ROAM does, and it worked without issue. Quick and efficient.

In my case I already had a Stages Link account, and then information technology just magically sucked most of my settings down to the device, and so also asked to ostend the FTP and LtHR. I did have some bug later with syncing completed rides on the Pixel phone, which Stages since terminal dark has already pinned downwards to a specific Pixel 1 issue on the Bluetooth connectedness timeout and will be releasing an app update to address it in the coming days.

I had planned to configure information pages/fields via the smartphone app, but that functionality was temporarily pulled for launch.  The visitor says information technology'll return in a few weeks. For now you lot can configure them via the website or via the Nuance unit itself. Then I but left the data fields at default since I was losing sunlight. After that, I paired upwardly my power meter and 60 minutes strap. Yous'll practise this separately for either ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart. You can name sensors and the usual configuration stuff. In my case I was using a Favero Assioma power meter pedals (dual), and a Garmin HRM-DUAL middle rate strap. Both via ANT+.

With that, I navigated back to the master carte and validated information technology had GPS signal lock and pressed start. Pretty simple.

From there, I simply rode. I didn't load a course or structured workout into the device, generally because of fourth dimension constraints. It'll be things I do for my review of grade. And Stages has historically taken the cake on the best structured workout implementation out at that place, though with Garmin'southward recent tweaks to the Edge 530/830 workout bits, nosotros'll have to see if that withal holds truthful.

The most obvious affair you'll detect is just how darn bright the display is. Like, lighthouse bright. I left it on the default 'machine' backlight settings and let it work its magic. The responsiveness of the low-cal sensor is quick (maybe fifty-fifty also quick) when passing under trees into the shade or back out into the sun. In my instance at a few hours prior to sunset I nonetheless had some brilliantly bright light, but also moments in the shade that were definitely darker. The brandish easily handled those.

Comparing information technology to the Garmin Edge 830 (likewise fix to auto backlight), it was consistently far brighter. At present personally I normally run my backlight on the Edge 830 around 20-30% or and then, whereas the auto setting seemed to drop it downward quite a bit lower than that. I've never personally idea the Edge 530 or 830 were that depression otherwise.

As well, I don't know what the battery burn profile looks like. Garmin records the battery data to their .FIT files, and then I can meet that (I was burning at 5.64% per hour, which is pretty darn close to on-spec for 20hrs with ability/HR sensors/LiveTrack/etc all enabled). I'd love to see Stages write that information to their .FIT files, since the visitor claims 12.v hours of backlight for the M50 even with that crazy bright screen.

At present the just downside to the screen is that the data field labels were hard to read. Super small-scale text (and I have super good optics). In talking with Stages they did notation that since I went with the defaults I didn't take the retentivity context of setting upwardly my specific fields (which is fair), simply information technology'southward something they said is probably the easiest thing for them to address. Oh, and that –10ft elevation is actually quite likely. Much of the expanse I was riding in was beneath bounding main level.

(Annotation: Photographically speaking, taking images of 2 different head units in varying lighting conditions on a moving bicycle is really really difficult. Not from a photo-taking standpoint, but from a legit comparison standpoint. With almost cameras, you lot're picking a specific portion of the paradigm to focus on – and in plow, utilize as a baseline for brightness. If I pick the Stages screen, it makes that look well-baked and light-counterbalanced merely makes the Garmin look dark. Inversely, if I select the Garmin screen as the focal indicate it'll residuum for that lighting condition and over-betrayal the Stages. Your eyes of class practise all this instantly. The only meaningful takeaway hither is take the images with a grain of salt, and that the Stages screen is significantly brighter in most default conditions.)

In some means, that same screen optimization tin exist said for maps also. Here's a side by side with the Border 830 for maps. Note, I know the Edge 830 is $399 and the Dash M50 is $249. However, for the purposes of everything we care about, the screen between the $299 Edge 530 and Edge 830 are near identical and the map screens as well identical. So you can use them interchangeably. In whatever case, what you encounter is that the Edge provides far more context of what'south around you in terms of the terrain/trails/roads, versus the Dash (and I'm not even talking about things similar points of interest, road names, etc…):

Again though, in talking to Stages they call up they tin can pretty hands brand some tweaks hither, and I agree (Wahoo has too fabricated tweaks to their ROAM in recent weeks too around this based on some feedback I've given them).  In a lot of ways, Stages has such an incredibly powerful screen/display, they just need to acquire how to use all that ability for good. Like giving a giant super soaker to a child, the beginning little while things might be a chip overkill.

And Stages also pointed out that their goal with the minimalist screen was to highlight the wheel paths more than the terrain. Which is off-white, and I think that gets a little fleck to the goal of what yous might utilise the maps for. For me, when I'one thousand using the map screen it'southward mostly in costless-class mode, and I'm interested in understanding the surrounding landscape – really specifically around here, water and terrain. But everyone is different.

Speaking of the screen, the unit was throwing all sorts of colorful boxes at me. In the below picture simply ane of them is colored (the purple 60 minutes one). These are tied to zones or targets, but in my case I'll need to dig into getting these configured to my liking. I retrieve they can be super powerful for training, but also potentially overkill. The idea is that you can gear up targets/coloring for whatever metric you desire. Cadence, ability, Hr, etc…

Again, it'due south something I'll encompass in more depth as part of the structured conditioning aspects during my final review.

From a usability standpoint, overall it'southward piece of cake enough, though I detect the button usability sometimes a piddling bit confusing. I'm sure I'll get used to that over fourth dimension, but it's not quite as intuitive as Wahoo or Garmin devices. This is likely because I go on meaning to press the circle confirmation button thinking that the up/down buttons should be next, and the circle to the correct. I'm certain they've washed plenty of usability testing on this longer term, but for now it's taking some getting used to.

Also, some of my initial goes with the Android app on my older Pixel slightly soured my first ride aspects. Though they've said I shouldn't see those issues on iOS (and are fixing the Pixel outcome in the post-obit days). So I'll be switching over to that since it'south my primary phone anyway.

Lastly, allow's do a quick sweep of the data. In this case I had paired information technology to both a Hr sensor and power meter (Favero Assioma) using Ant+. I duplicated that same configuration on another unit (the Border 830), just to be able to validate the files were identical. And indeed, they were. Here'south the ability files overlaid, with a 5-2nd smoothing. You'll always get slight 1-second variations with power meters recorded to dissimilar head units due to transmission/reception recording rates. But the green and imperial lines (both Assioma) are near identical.

More hands seen, here's the Hateful/Max graph, showing the green/regal lines straight atop each other nearly the entire fourth dimension (Stages/Edge files). The carmine file is recorded from a unlike power meter on a dissimilar caput unit. And a different topic for a unlike day. A 3rd power meter was also recorded on another picket, but that appeared to totally crap itself dropout wise (the watch, not the power meter), so I've removed it from view so you tin can see what's meaningful here.

GPS-wise, you lot can look at the entire fileset of all units over in the DCR Analyzer, but there were nix bug from the Stages (or Garmin) units during this ride. They were spot-on. Albeit somewhat annoyingly Stages doesn't write the final altitude or ascent information to the .FIT file (you can come across that on the Analyzer as well). And so they can add those in while they're calculation in bombardment land (notably: Stages does actually do some incredible stuff with connected sensors and firmware versions, as well as calibration points to their files that other companies, Garmin/Wahoo/etc, don't appear to do).

I only saw i brief imperfection most some taller buildings for a few hundred meters (upper portion that appears maybe 5-10m offset in the middle of the picture):

So, so far and so practiced. Just again, longer testing for sure. Back in January though when I exam rode a few units, things were also remarkably skilful there as well. You can dig into the full file set here in the DCR Analyzer.

Wrap-upwards:

Ok, again, this isn't a review. Nope-de-nope. It's just my commencement impressions on the unit after a single ride. A lot of you on my new Stages Nuance post from January take been asking in the comments for my thoughts in one case I had the last production units in-hand. Then, now I do, and thus…above are my thoughts.

I remember Stages adjusting their pricing was a very smart move. The original $349 price indicate for the L50 just wasn't viable in today'southward market, and to be fair, I'thousand not entirely sure $299 is either. Simply it's non outlandish. The $249 cost point for the M50 is feasible, assuming you're getting value out of the more data-focused aspects of the Stages lineup (be it the structured workouts, or having 12-16 fields per page). Stages won't win on features, not even close. Lacking things like Strava Alive Segments means for a segment of the population (become it?), it's a non-starter. And it doesn't take the on-need turn by turn navigation like Wahoo or Garmin has. But instead they've taken a heavy data and customization driven approach. Be information technology zone coloring for just virtually whatever metric you want, or the deep tie-in with their preparation platforms.

And while I didn't talk about information technology hither much, the revamped L10 is astoundingly deep for the $149 cost point. Seriously, not even Lezyne, which commonly drives functionality at the sub-$200 range, tin can compete here. Of course, Lezyne too has phone to device grade creation, which Stages lacks on the L10. Maybe I'll exercise a standalone budget battle mail or something.

In any case – review in July. Probably after some Alps rides planned early July, and then I can get a chip of superlative data in hither. Since otherwise my Netherlands rides are all pancakes. Though hopefully with Stages beingness based in Bedrock, it's likely they've got the tiptop affair figured out.

With that – cheers for reading!

Found This Mail service Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you found this review useful. At the end of the solar day, I'1000 an athlete only like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews mostly have a lot of hours to put together, and so information technology'due south a fair flake of piece of work (and labor of love). Equally you probably noticed past looking below, I likewise have time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there's quite a flake of item in there also.

If you're shopping for the Stages Dash L50 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! Equally an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Information technology doesn't cost you anything extra, just your purchases help back up this website a lot. Fifty-fifty more than, if you lot employ Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with coupon lawmaking DCRAINMAKER, start time users salve xv% on applicable products!

Here'south a few other variants or sibling products that are worth because:

And of course – you can ever sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, admission to the DCR Quarantine Corner video serial packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you lot awesome. And being awesome is what it's all about!

Thanks for reading! And equally ever, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments department below, I'll exist happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I e'er capeesh feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you institute this review useful. At the finish of the solar day, I'm an athlete just like you lot looking for the about detail possible on a new purchase – then my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it'southward a fair chip of piece of work (and labor of love). Every bit you probably noticed past looking below, I also accept fourth dimension to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there's quite a bit of detail in there also.

If y'all're shopping for the Stages Nuance L50 or any other accessory items, please consider using the chapter links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn't cost y'all anything extra, but your purchases help back up this website a lot. Fifty-fifty more than, if you utilise Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with coupon lawmaking DCRAINMAKER, offset fourth dimension users save 15% on applicable products!

Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:

And of course – you tin can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you lot an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Quarantine Corner video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you crawly. And being awesome is what information technology's all about!

Thanks for reading! And as ever, feel gratis to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I'll be happy to attempt and reply them as quickly every bit possible. And lastly, if y'all felt this review was useful – I always capeesh feedback in the comments beneath. Thanks!

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Source: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/stages-dash-m50-l50-l10-first-ride.html

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