I was told by a master jumper and ex sailplane pilot that there is no difference in speed of deployment. But he was selling/ giving me his chute getting out of sailplanes his quote "this is the largest square reserve that they make because I do not want to break my ankles when I land" A bunch of us also went and did a static line from 5K so I would know what to expect. The day long class and 1 jump was a 100 bucks or so. But it showed me that it was not that hard to steer and judge where I would glide too. I ended up about 10 feet from the center of the target and just fell onto one knee. (I was about 2 seconds behind the full flare or I would have stayed upright If your going to use a square I would suggest doing the class It was fun and very educational.