Currently on Level 17 and up to now have been on a touch of a speed race. Simultaneously preparing for the N3. Does anyone have any good recs for what readers are right for this level and could work for both reading comp as well as N3 prep?
There’s so much out there, it’s hard to make heads or tails of what’s best.
Thanks!
I recommend Todai apps. It’s fantastic for me.
It’s probably too easy for you I’m not sure. But there is a difficult article section on their apps not just the easy one.
I suggest checking out the master thread for Japanese learning resources here no WK:
In the table of contents there’s Readers listed along with all sorts of reading related stuff. 
But from a general perspective it’s very hard to say what level is good for you. WK isn’t that telling about your abilities as you need more than WK to read anyway (grammar more vocab etc).
Personally I just give stuff a go and if I feel to frustrated I put it aside to read later. Anything with furigana is usually fine to start out with.
I feel like if Wanikani is the only learning resource I have and my grammar knowledge is some where around N4.
The best time to start reading might be level 60 
There are so many essential vocab Wanikani doesn’t teach or teach much later on deeper levels. I don’t mean it’s Wanikani fault though. Wanikani just didn’t design to be the ultimate standalone Japanese learning resource
Yes, they only really teach you to read kanji. But to understand Japanese, you need to know more than the “letters” used to form words. 
I think immersion learning is the way to go. Start out with something easy and then move to more difficult stuff. But, even if you don’t understand everything while listening to a podcast, it’s not a waste of time to put yourself through it. Some things requires time and exposure for them to click.
For reading, I think you just have to keep at it. Gradually, you’ll find yourself looking up fewer and fewer words and kanji. And a translation doesn’t have to be complete or exact for you to still understand enough and enjoy whatever it is you’re reading. Having reasonable expectations can help when you start out as well. 
if you’ve got N4 (working on N3) and 17 levels of WK, i’d suggest just picking up some native material you like. at least that’s what i did, already quite a bit earlier.
the key word being “like”, i failed to stick with easier stuff because it didn’t interest me ^^
might not be the best approach, might not work for everybody, but i recommend trying it out.