Help a n00b - which DNA test to buy?

[Katariina]

Hi everyone. So in two weeks I will be getting a DNA test done, but I've got a few questions for the TA members who are more experienced with genetic testing than me:

1.) I want to spend around $100 or €92, so which company in your opinion provides the best test in that price range? (I live in the U.S., so I'm sure most companies are available here.)

2.) I am unsure whether I should test myself first, or my father.

My father is a 1st generation American and the child of two Finns, so not only will he be able to provide me with our Y-DNA haplogroup results, but he will also give a purer breakdown of that ethnicity and divide it from my mother's Euro-mutt blood. I will also find out if our male line comes from Finland or Sweden (his paternal grandfather was a bastard who took his mother's surname - we don't know who knocked up his g-grandma :rolleyes: lol).

But, if I test myself first, I will be able to see my mom's mixed European blood and discover where her ancestors came from as well as my dad's. And I will be able to see my mtDNA (which is obviously not as exciting as Y-DNA though lol). Plus I would just test both my parents later on.

Which do you think I should do first?

3.) Finally, were you suprised by your own DNA results? Any unexpected mixtures/ethnicities in your makeup?

[Not a Cop]

Start with 23andme for yourself, 23andme doesn't test Y-dna deep enough to tell if your father has Finnish or Swedish line, you'll have to do ftdna for that.

[Era]

Ftdna is more expensive. If $100 is all you wanna spend now test your brother and find out about both mtdna and ydna.

[Mortimer]

23andme

[Gooding]

Start with 23andMe. That's really the best company for an overview on your Ancestral Composition and your mtDNA. I'd suggest you test yourself first.

[Iloko]

For ethnicity, skip FTDNA for now.

Otherwise you should probably go with 23andme. Test yourself, then sometime in the future test your father as well. If you test a parent it refines your ancestry composition by updating it with more accurate results and figures (This is called 'phasing'). For instance you may score say 5% French upon your results, but then if you tested your father afterwards your French could jump to as much as 20%.

A next great option is Ancestry.com but they don't offer haplogroup information... I would go with 23andme.

[Arch Hades]

23andme is by far the best.

[Eleonore]

23andme was good for me, i would do it again. It didn't pick up everything i wanted or expected but the ability to use the datas elsewhere is great and evolutive i guess.
I didn't know about other companies when i ordered the kit so i can't tell. Everybody seems to agree 23andme is a good place to start.
I wasn't surprised by the result because i didn't know what to expect exactly.

ps: it took a month or so to get the results once it was delivered at the lab, maybe some are faster.

[Harkonnen]

What exactly makes you think this "man" should have been a Swede? I mean pure numbers don't make it very likely. Unless you think it was epidemic back then; Swedes knocking up young maidens. If it was a foreigner, a Russian is of course a possibility too.

Since the father is nowhere to be found, I think one strong candidate is actually gypsy-love. When stupid girls get knocked up, a hundred-years-ago, gypsy-love was often the cause, even more so than today.

[Anglojew]

23andme

Yes, I found out I'm Scythian.

[Annie999]

I agree with the previous comments: 23andme is a good place to start

[gültekin]

https://www.tribecode.com/ with high SNP samples would be also a good option, its disadvantages is you can't upload your raw data to Gedmatch (http://v2.gedmatch.com/login1.php)
also checkout some comments for that:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?149888-New-DNA-Company-with-next-gen-Illumina-based-chip/page2&highlight=tribecode
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?162016-My-Tribecode-results-came-in&highlight=tribecode

[Petalpusher]

It really depends what you are looking for, in your case since you apparently want a general overview of your ancestry, go with 23andme and you see if you either fall into scandinavia or some specific "Finnish" which is a different group, so you ll get the most certain answer right away. Gedmatch will also help to confirm it.

If you were absolutely sure of your ancestry, you could try directly a big FTDNA or "tribe".

[Katariina]

What exactly makes you think this "man" should have been a Swede? I mean pure numbers don't make it very likely. Unless you think it was epidemic back then; Swedes knocking up young maidens. If it was a foreigner, a Russian is of course a possibility too.

Since the father is nowhere to be found, I think one strong candidate is actually gypsy-love. When stupid girls get knocked up, a hundred-years-ago, gypsy-love was often the cause, even more so than today.

I know for a fact that he was most likely Finnish (and definitely not a gypsy lol; their son, my g-grandpa was 6'7, fair skinned, and entirely Finnish looking, but Swedish is a small possibility because they lived in Western Finland and their child married a Swedish-speaking Finn). She was not a young maiden or a stupid girl either, she was in her 20's and actually had two other children with this man, so "knocked up" was a little misleading and not accurate on my part. They were in a relationship I suppose and had three children in a span of 10 years. I said "knocked up" only because they were illegitimate and for whatever reason, their mother raised them. I don't know why he didn't stick around - maybe he was a soldier?, maybe he was married?, an affair? Three children together seems like he was having a long love affair with her.

[DarknessInside]

Useful thread and posts. Thanks guys!

[Taiguaitiaoghyrmmumin]

23andme. FTDNA is for Y-dna if you want to to be able to make future very specific subclade results, it costs more money in long run though. 23andme is fairly accurate though, but its not as broken down as FTDNA. FTDNA Y-dna tests are separate so it costs more money also. 23andme is included with autosomal and MTDNA test results. You can find matches based on haplogroups on FTDNA though. I don't think you can for 23andme