Defender vs Commuter a Dad's perspective
I thought since I've been yapping about these cases for months, that I would give my 2 cents about the cases after buying both of them.
Defender:
I love the defender for its ruggedness, and overall it does not add much bulk to the phone (relatively). I can still easily fit in the pocket of my khakis (not my "butt" jeans) without it being obvious. I can give it to my 22 mo daughter and let her hold it and play with it and even drop it from the stroller without thinking twice. The screen cover is great in protecting the real screen from her pressing too hard as well as whatever snack is left on her fingers. I cut the back raised area off of the voice command rubber button on the case because that was the button she would press the most and mess up her movie playing on rockplayer. I have never used that button so it is not a big deal. I just used a razor blade to remove the raised area making it flush and impossible to press the hard key with the defender on. I really like the rubber or whatever material the shock absorber is on the case. I get very little lint on the phone and it slides easily in and out of my pocket. The hard case fits well, snaps together nicely, and is not too hard to get off of the phone (unlike my old verizon clear hard plastic case). The rubber part fits over the hard case nicely, no gaps, it stays on without flipping off going in and out of my pocket. My only complaint, and it has been mentioned on the forum before, is that the rubber does not have anything to clip to or go under just above the hard keys, so it is easy for my daughter to flip up to try and get to the hard keys underneath. This is very small complaint compared to my overall happiness with the case. I use the case only on the weekends when I know I might have to give it to my daughter to play with the phone.
Commuter:
I had considered letting my phone go naked the rest of the week when I was not using the defender on the weekends. My phone feels awesome naked and I love the sleekness and the feel of the phone. However, after putting the commuter on the phone, I have decided to keep using it to give my phone some protection throughout the week. Initially I was pretty disappointed that there was so much exposed silicone. I thought that the majority of the phone would be covered by the slick think plastic. The silicone fits perfectly on the phone, and the hard plastic fits perfectly over the silicone. There are no gaps, creaks, cracks, or anything when using the stock battery. I did not install the screen protector that came with it, so I cannot comment on it. Some reports have said that there was A LOT of lint that collected on the commuter. I have made a very interesting observation on this. I barely had ANY lint when I was using the standard battery, but when I switched to the extended battery and battery door from motorola it has gathered a lot more lint. My only thought on this is that with the extended battery and door, the silicone is stretched ever-so-slightly on the microscopic level and maybe the micropores of the silicone are open and allow lint /dust to be trapped. Just a theory because it was very obvious when I switched to the extended battery (same phone, same pants, same pocket, no washed, and no other differences, in the same 24 hour period of time). Also, with the extended battery, the commuter does not fit nearly as perfect as it does with the stock battery and door. It is close, but noticeable if you go from one to the other. I really like that there seems to be a lot of protection with very limited bulk addition. I feel like it is smaller and sleeker than the clear had plastic case I used to have. I use the commuter Mon-Fri, and I recently bought a media dock so I have to take the case off every night which is a pain, but the case seems like it will hold up to the abuse of removing and replacing every day. My only complaint is that more of the silicone is exposed than I was anticipating, but maybe that was my fault for not looking at other cases and pictures more closely.
Overall I really like both cases. They are extremely well-made in my eyes, and they do the job they are built for. I can't say it was worth the wait because I don't think any case would be worth that long of a wait, but they almost exactly what I was looking for, especially the defender for letting my daughter play with it/ watch movies in her stroller or at a restaurant.