Have you looked at the Otterbox Commuter for the charge?
Not as "industrial-strength" as the Defender, but extremely well made and it does a great job of protecting the phone while still leaving all buttons and slots/openings usab;e and/or easily accessible....
This is what I have. I have dropped my phone over 200 times, and not one single scratch to the screen or plastic. Hell, there aren't really even scratches on my Otterbox.
My biggest problem is when I am driving, I keep my phone in my lap. I use it for music and don't want to dig in my pocket when I get a call. 90% of the time I get out of my vehicle, I forget about it, and it drops straight to the concrete. This $35 Commuter series Otterbox has saved me hundreds in replacement parts/phones.
But as other people were saying, the phone itself is very well made. My friend shattered three Thunderbolts before convincing Verizon to give him a Charge. He dropped the Charge the same way multiple times before buying a case, but superficial scratches to the case are all that happened.