The Fishman v-100 has a 1/8th inch connector that fastens to the tailpiece of the violin. Granted this might be a little less conspicuous than a carpenter jack, and a little lighter with the smaller diameter cable - but if you leave your 1/8-to-1/4 adapter cable at home the night of a gig, you re in trouble. I prefer the 1/4 carpenter jack that comes with most of the other transducers on the market, so I can just grab a 1/4 audio cable and go. The one downside of the carpenter jack is that the standard version shipped for installation on violins is too small to mount on a full-sized viola. For that reason, the v-100 is a good choice if you plan to used it on a viola, or want to transfer it back and forth between a violin and viola.