Stasis or Reave would probably be what I would use to attempt this. Defense powers have too long a cooldown in ME2, IMO.
I used to share your opinion on this (even about Tech armor), but I am slowly coming around to a more nuanced line of thinking.
For ranged combat (where you are mostly using a shield power to extend the time you can be poked out of cover firing a weapon), then I totally agree that shield powers have way too long a cool down to make them effective. They tend to interfere with other powers at the exact moment you need to use them, ultimately slowing the pace and preventing you from taking quick actions at critical moments. Also, for for CQC with Soldiers, Vanguards, and Infiltrators (who already have a good mobility power in AR, Charge, and Cloak), I usually find that a shield power directly interferes with their native mobility power.
However, for CQC involving non-soldier hybrid classes (Engineer, Adept, Sentinel), I think things can be a different story. For these classes, a shield power essential fills the role that a mobility power provides on soldier hybrid classes. In some situations a shield power used in this way can actually interferes LESS with other powers than the cool down of a true mobility power, since the cool down can be prepaid before maneuvering, whereas with charge, AR and cloak the cool down does not begin until the power ends. For this reason immobilizing ammo powers are generally more important on soldier hybrid classes since they have to have a way to disable enemies with red health bars while waiting for their mobility power to reset. In contrast, a non-soldier class with a shield power can simultaneously unleash weapons and powers as part of a CQ takedown.
For examples, take a look at 3:10 ~ 3:20, 3:40 ~ 4:05, and 4:25 ~ 4:45 of the first vid (barrier adept).
The first thing you'll notice is that the initial cool down of barrier is already complete before the first engagement, so does not interfere with power use during the initial rush. By the time the barrier is down completely, the cool down of the 2nd power is done, so the barrier can be recast for another period under fire, allowing a second or heavy enemy to be fully taken out. Then during the 2nd barrier cool down I am either firing a weapon or recovering health, so not using other powers yet anyway. By the time I need to use powers again, the 2nd cool down is finished. So in practice, I think the use of shield powers and other powers is often sufficiently asynchronous (interdigitated) during a CQ takedown that their cool downs don't interfere too badly. This argument goes double for Sentinels, since casting tech armor resets squadmate cooldowns, so you can just use squad powers during the shield cooldown.
Although I could post vids showing similar maneuvers without a protection power, I can tell you right now it would not be representative. To repeat the same multi-enemy takedowns shown in the three examples I just cited, I would probably die 4/5 times, whereas with a shield power I can pull it off almost every time (with varying levels of health damage). Compare these same points in the time sequence to ones from the 2nd vid (stasis adept) – you'll see I have to play these same scenarios much more conservatively. What I think this comparison shows is that with the same player, a stasis adept is not going to be nearly as mobile under fire from enemies on the lose. The stasis Adept must first lock down enemies with singularity and stasis, and then move. The reason the stasis vid is 2 mins shorter than the barrier vid is mostly exploitation of stasis to take down heavy units quickly, not because stasis provides inherently higher mobility for CQC in all situations.
So while I am still not going to admit which one I prefer, I have definitely come to respect the value of shield power for this purpose!
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