My agent advised the SS route, but I thought it was unnecessary... processing times then seemed to be 12-18 months for 176 and 12-24 months for 175, and we couldn't go to our first choice of state. Also it would cost more, because the agent costs extra for the SS application...
I am very hard trying not to be impatient, or to feel envious of all those people who started this process later than we did and already have their visa. But I'm also feeling sorry for the cat5 people. If I get impatient after 6 months, how would they feel waiting for 3 years???