Cptnodegard, as originally stated at the beginning of this thread, these are modified adapters; the mini-B end looks rough because it's where I've had to open them up; the only other possible way to do it would be to cut all of the plastic sheathing off of the adapter to access the pins on the inside, and I guarantee that would look (and act) much worse.

The solder between the two pins should not be any thicker than the pins themselves (I'll post a photo to show you this when I get my camera back). One of my colleagues here at the office did the soldering on about 5 of them and I was testing for functionality at the time so the soldering may not have been perfect. Once I post up the pics, please compare and if the adapters you have are not up to par I'd be happy to send you two new ones to replace the others you've got that you're not satisfied with.

Thanks,
-Rob