IMO, SnGs are by far the better way to go, I used to play in some reasonably small Tournaments with 5 or 6 tables but even they could last all night, I remember, I went to one such event with a Friend and he Battled through to the Final Table Finishing on the min Cash and basically got his money back.
I however was busted out before the 1st break, Playing Pocket Jacks, I flopped a full house with J,5,5, and my opponent had Quad 5s, but hey that's Poker, get used to it. I went onto play 2 SnGs while we waited for the Tournament to finish and I won them both so by the end of the night I was £100 up.
Cash games however require a different Strategy when playing, I do very well in a Live environment where I can see my opponents and pick up on small
tells from their body Language, but not so well On-line, So I tend to stay well away from them.
Just play every SnG as if they are the Final Table in a big MTT game, and you pick up a lot of practice in playing for the Money bubble, and ultimately Heads up play, if you make the last 2 players, both very important if you want to get better at Tournament Poker.
Good Luck!