Party Mini Steps Viable alternative to the regular grind?

hey guys,

For the last couple of months i've started to play sng's as my game of choice, i currently 8-table the $16 turbo's on Stars, havent played more than a few hundred but things are going well so far

Anyway, i had a couple of MiniStep2 freeroll's sitting in Party back from the days when i first started as a fish (note: i still could be a fish, lol, but i dont think so thanks to the help from many posters here)

So i played with these and worked my way up to MiniStep5 with a few ups and downs along the way..for what its worth i played the MiniStep5 a few hours ago and came 5th for $200

The thing is i often find it hard to open up set after set of regular sng's, it can be very monotonous after a while, and playing these steps has a thrill about it that regular sng's dont...like reaching MiniStep5 gave me the same buzz of nervousness/excitement as you would get reaching a final table of a big mtt imo...

I am resonably sure they are profitable, but i am just wondering if they are worth it terms of how much effort and time you have to put in, in order to make $$...

I am really not sure about these stats (just pure estimates), i did a search but couldnt find anything, so please tell me if you think they are wrong in any way...

Lets say you buyin directly at MiniStep2 (step 1 is a complete waste of time imo):

Say it takes you 10 buyins at MiniStep2 before you reach a MiniStep5...i believe this is rather conservative but its just an estimate

So you spend $220 to get to MiniStep5

Say you arent as good as the average person that plays these (alot of 'regulars' buyin directly) so a finish distribution for a below average player might look something like this:

1st/$2000:8%
2nd/$1000:8%
3rd/$500:8%
4th/$300:8%
5th/$200:8%
6-th/$0:60%

so according to this distribution for each time you reach MiniStep5 you will get $320 for a $100 profit, so thats a 45%ROI,so they are profitable if you achieve these stats, but...how many Step sng's will you play along the way to get to MiniStep5?

If it takes say...40 (i dont where i got this number from but it seems like it would be enough??, then that is a $2.5 proft per SNG played...which is as good as a 15.6%ROI at the $16's, with the added benefit of alot more fun IMO

If anyone has any opinions, experiences or thoughts about the MiniStep5's that they would like to add please share!

Stevo