I've found it's rarely faster, but usually not too much slower. You do get to let your shit hang out for awhile on the other side though, and I never like leaving expensive laptops and cellphones and wallets just lying there indefinitely.

Also greater chance you get a false positive on the swab and that will blow your schedule as they tear apart all your luggage looking for a bomb or gun that doesn't exist. That easily chews half an hour if you're lucky.

What do you mean by "the normal line", and how is it possible for the patdown process to be faster? I have never gone through a TSA body scanner, but I go through the same security line as everyone else, and there's always a short wait for the TSA to call someone up for the "assist". I wonder what you're doing differently.

Modern body scanners show a "heat map" of areas of interest rather than denude people like the early ones did. I'm wondering if raw imagery is captured and stored.

True story, though a fair amount intimate.