This strange behaviour with console is worth paying attention to: it updates the object when you expand it. Say we have:

obj = {}
obj.a ={x:1} //give it something worth displaying the expand triangle for
console.log(obj)
obj.b =1
console.log(obj)

In console we’d get:

▶ Object{a:Object}
▶ Object{a:Object, b:1}

Which displays the difference between those two copies of obj correctly. However when you expand the two, they’re no different:

▼ Object{a:Object}
  ▶ a:Object
    b:1
  ▶ __proto__:Object

▼ Object{a:Object, b:1}
  ▶ a:Object
    b:1
  ▶ __proto__:Object

With $route

But at least we could tell from the console that something is updated asynchronously if the one line console is different from its expansion, for instance when the $route with only two key/value pairs:

▶ Object {routes:Object, reload:function}

Expands into three:

▶ Object {routes:Object, reload:function}
  ▶ current: angular.extend.angular.extend
  ▶ reload:function(){}
  ▶ routes:Object
  ▶ __proto__:Object