Bow Grips: Fortitude, Defense, or Shelter?

I'm looking to build my perfect bow, and am wondering which grip to put on.

Fortitude is the most expensive, adding 30hp for 40kish.
Defense adds +5 armor for 1-2k
Shelter adds +7 elemental for about the same amount.

My question is, why is fortitude so much more expensive? It seems to me that Defense or Shelter might be better. Given that +5 defense lowers damage by 12.5%, that means that Defense will do more damage negation after a bit more than 200 total damage taken. Elemental would be even better, especially if you're running Winter or Greater Conflaguration.

So am I missing something? Is it just that Fortitude is more visible in that it adds to a stat that you can see, versus Defense and Shelter negating something that you don't see?

Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

+ x Defense isn't going to help against Degeneration.

most players just look for the bigger number... 30 (HP) is larger then 5 (Armour) so most just assume Fort is better imo... even tho it isn't :P

there are many threads on the pro's and con's of Fort vs. Defense... i've always gone with Armour +5 as it is pretty much the same as +30HP but 40K-50K cheaper :P

Yeps people use Fortitude against degen and armor ignoring attacks. Both of which you will see alot of in PvP.

Regards

+armor is good for a ranger thats running, and for degenaration for sure +hp ia better. just carry both in wep sets and change around depending what yure facing, physical dmg (like wariors) or spellcasters (like lesmers :/ )

i have 1 bow of each and its working fine. 1 is +30hp poisoner, 1 vamp 5/1 +30hp , +5 defence zealous, and 1 cold bow. i got one for each accasion and i just change depending what suits situation better.