I don't think the difference is the charging rates or times, I think the main difference is what do you do when the battery is fully charged.
Most of the horror stories I have heard consist of really stupid things, like directly shorting out a battery, or connecting two batteries in series instead of parallel (also a dead short), then the moron that did this is actually surprised that the batteries get hot and swell up like balloons. Of course this is the battery's fault so they go through the rest of their lives full of fear and hatred for gell cells.
A more reasonable mistake is to continually overcharge a gell cell. NiCads don't seem to mind this (they just get hot), and wet cell lead-acid batteries tolerate trickle charging (bubbling hydrogen), but a gell cell charger should stop supplying current when the battery voltage reaches the fully charged level. I think it has to do with gas not being able to escape the gell, but I don't really know.
I have a several 12V gell cells. To charge them I use a product intended for ham radio applications which consists of battery+charger+meter+ switches+regulators+fuse+connectors in a nice plastic case with a handle. I forget who makes it. I think it is called "the Power Station" or something like that. It is advertised in all the ham radio magazines.
It is also my understanding that gell cells suffer a slow chemical breakdown, used or not, so they have a lifespan and shelf life of about four years.
Chuck