Originally Posted by Classvino 
However, the PC plugs are notorious for falling off or not connecting as positively... Most of the time it's not an issue with miniphones...
If you avoid buying your miniphone cords at the dollar store, there shouldn't be too much difference in quality.
I always turn off devices (photo,audio,video) when plugging / unplugging cords. Safer for the device that way - no pop-causing shorts to worry about...
FlashWaves triggers give you all 3 options : PC terminal. miniphone, and hotshoe. I tried them all, just because I wanted to compare, and if I ever couldn't use hotshoe, I'd prefer miniphone to pc cords.
For flashes, turning off is not enough. You need to remember to pop the flash a few times to discharge the capacitor. With my old Vivitar 283s, if you don't remember to pop them, there's a nice 200 volt reminder when you grab the miniphone.
None of these connectors is perfect. Both have their pluses and minuses. The cheap cords that have caused me trouble were not the ones that came from the dollar store, but the ones that come with the various flash accessories. For example, a pc to sub-miniphone cord that came with a hot shoe adapter would not work in my radio trigger until I cut back about 2 mm of plastic from the shank of the miniphone plug, effectively lengthening the plug.