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Well for the first time ever in an elder scrolls game (I've always used heavy armor or no armor) I decided to create a light armor character. I'm having a little trouble deciding what shield I should use.

I'm only level 6 since I am leveling efficiently and I've recently decided to visit the SHivering Isles. I found some amber and thought "well, I can use some decent light armor to get me through the leveling process" so had the Orc smith make me a shield. It has an armor rating of 6 (for my character anyways at her light armor level of 59). This is far greater than the base armor rating of my "Mudcrab Shield" which is an enchanted fur shield. Now the fur shield only has an armor rating of 1 but the enchantment gives me a 5% shield effect.

Which is better?

My character is a wood elf and her highest skill currently is marksman at 65. She's been falling short in her major skill of Blade (only at 37) and I want to work on her strength a bit (so I can haz moar loot). To work on her Blade skill I would just feel more comfortable with a shield equipped (though I don't plan on using it often, I depend on Speed and Acrobatics to dodge most things) and I'd like to know which shield would be better of the two. Remember:

Lesser Amber Shield = 6 AR, no enchantment
Mudcrab Shield = 1 AR, 5% Shield effect.

This humble Layman would appreciate any help ^_^

1 pt armour = 1 pt shield.
You can verify this by equipping the two and comparing your armour rating stat at the bottom of your inventory.

Thanks!

What kriscrash said. Those two provide equal protection if both shields are undamaged. The only other considerations are things like
--How much protection will I lose as my shield takes damage? (Assuming your shield skill isn't high enough to prevent damage.) The Mudcrab shield would hold at 6 points until it breaks, while the Amber Shield would gradually lose AP.
--If you get your Armorer skill high enough, you'll be able to repair that Amber Shield to 125%, which means more than 6 points of AP.