So people have asked me which test I would recommend.
As I have used three different companies FTDNA, Ancestry and 23andME, I can say I certainly have a favorite - AncestryDNA.
Why do I like it.
First, unlike FTDNA and 23andME, Ancestry automatically and easily integrates your family tree. As I am a genealogist, not a geneticist or someone trying to get insight into what role my genes may play in future health issues, this is precisely the type of integration I am looking for.
It is not perfect, as you would by reading my blog, but it certainly beats what the other companies have to offer in this respect.
FTDNA is useful, but I have found it to be very cumbersome to use and I have not found people all that responsive on the site. The good thing about Ancestry is, I have matches and trees I can get to work on immediately without having to wait for a response from someone else.
Second 23andMe is a really disorganized. It was geared to providing health feedback to its users. However, since that has all been taken away, it really doesn't know where it stand right now. I did testing for an Aunt on 23andMe and the sample turned out to be inadequate. They needed a new sample, so 23andMe told me they would send me a replacement kit or refund my money. Also, if I retested the same individual a second time, and it was still not a usable sample, I could not receive a refund or another test. Since I do a lot of testing, I decided to simply have a replacement test sent and to order a test from Ancestry for my Aunt to try. When I was ready to send the replacement test out to a new individual, an Uncle, I asked 23andMe how to change the information on the test. They informed me that I could not, I would have to have my money refunded to me, and then purchase a third test and have it sent to me, even though I had a valid identical test in my hand. At that point, it was confirmed for me, 23andMe just is not up to the challenge of making any of this easy and streamlined. Using 23andMe to do genealogy research simply is not a winning option.
Ancestry, even though there is a lot of misinformation done by shoddy research on the site, it still is able to provide a great tools to work with and a good jumping off point.
Tests from any of these vendors are also able to be transferred to GEDMATCH.COM to compare with users from any one else uploading their results to GEDMATCH. The tools GEDMATCH offers and the number of tests in their database make it a very worthwhile addition to any of the vendors alone, and it is free as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment