STAGES DASH M50
£209
WEIGHT 95.2g SIZE 48mm x 75mm x 23mm SCREEN SIZE 46mmx35mm SCREEN TYPE Everbrite™ LCD colour screen IN THE BOX Out-front mount, micro USB cable WATERPROOF IPX7 MEMORY 16gb BATTERY LIFE (CLAIMED) 20 hours
The Stages Dash feels similar in use to Wahoo in that all the major functions are controlled by facia buttons combined with a small, backlit screen, which is seriously crisp, putting every other unit here to shame with autobrightness adjustment built in. Stages has done a great job in presenting the wealth of data available and a well-detailed map.
The minimally sized screen has a lot of information to show, so pages can be hard to read at a glance. To tune pages you need to connect via USB to a laptop.
Set-up is convoluted and requires you to download apps to both phone and desktop followed by accessing the Stage Link web page and ‘authorising’ the unit to your account. It’s a shame that it’s laborious because Stages, with its power meter background, offers a huge wealth of data analysis, especially if you sign up for a premium account, which adds Stagescurated data analytics, unlimited training plans within a seasonal planner and a workout library and creator. The workouts cover everything from primers of seven riding hours a week up to training for a full Ironman triathlon. We like how the data can be displayed in easy-to-read, evolving graphs. A great inroad for those wanting to get serious with their training.
The connection is good for sensors, with both SRAM and Shimano units found quickly and held stable. It supports power, heart rate, cadence and speed but we couldn’t get the M50 to connect to the gearing on SRAM or Shimano. We're told that’s on its way.
GPS pick-up is reasonable at 54 seconds after start up and the mapping loads tiles from your immediate area once it’s achieved a GPS signal. The map is clear, although zooming is convoluted requiring multiple button presses. It showed some issues keeping stable when measuring gradients on hills.
The M50 syncs quickly with your phone and Strava via Bluetooth, and you can hardwire it to your laptop via the USB port. There’s no Wi-Fi support and Stages doesn’t offer Strava live segment support either.
Battery life is decent, Stages claims up to 20 hours, but we’ve consistently got just over half of that at 11 hours, which is still impressive from a unit where the screen brightness is so good.
Stages is brilliant at well-structured training programs and data presentation. It does need improvements: the wandering gradient metric is a worry and the reliance on USB connection is tedious.
WE SAY...
An ideal companion for training but it comes with a fewniggles The small, backlit screen is seriously crisp with auto-brightness adjustment built in