Fastest way to convert JavaScript NodeList to Array?

Question

Previously answered questions here said that this was the fastest way:

//nl is a NodeList
arr=Array.prototype.slice.call(nl);

In benchmarking on my browser I have found that it is more than 3 times slower than this:

arr=[];
for(var i=0,n; n=nl[i]; ++i) arr.push(n);

They both produce the same output, but I find it hard to believe that my second version is the fastest possible way, especially since people have said otherwise here.

Is this a quirk in my browser (Chromium 6)? Or is there a faster way?

EDIT: For anyone who cares, I settled on the following (which seems to be the fastest in every browser that I tested):

//nl is a NodeList
var l=[]; // Will hold the array of Node's
for(var i=0, ll=nl.length; i!=ll; l.push(nl[i++]));

Answer 1

The second one tends to be faster in some browsers, but the main point is that you have to use it because the first one is just not cross-browser. Even though The Times They Are a-Changin'

@kangax (IE 9 preview)

Array.prototype.slice can now convert certain host objects (e.g. NodeList’s) to arrays — something that majority of modern browsers have been able to do for quite a while.

Answer 2

Check out this blog post here that talks about the same thing. From what I gather, the extra time might have to do with walking up the scope chain.