I'd recommend the Incipio DualPro if you're looking for something protective:
DualPro Nokia Lumia Icon Cases | Best Nokia Lumia Icon Cases | Incipio
It's more comparable to the Otterbox Commuter rather than the Defender. It's very protective, and it's a heck of a lot more stylish.
Going back to the Defender, I've never liked it. Ever. I've always liked the Commuter series better. Not only is it pretty much common physics for better protection to have a harder outer layer with a soft inner layer (like the Commuter/DualPro...Defender is the opposite), the hard plastic snap together shell on the Defender always scratches up phones. The only thing about the Defender is that it's sealed, which I don't think is really that meaningful as long as you have a screen protector