  We study the transition to synchronization in large, dense networks of
chaotic circle maps, where an exact solution of the mean-field dynamics in the
infinite network and all-to-all coupling limit is known. In dense networks of
finite size and link probability of smaller than one, the incoherent state is
meta-stable for coupling strengths that are larger than the mean-field critical
coupling. We observe chaotic transients with exponentially distributed escape
times and study the scaling behavior of the mean time to synchronization.
