Amazon.com: Customer reviews: FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder, Ancestry & DNA Test Kit, Discover Your Origins & Unlock Your Geographic Roots, Connect with Your DNA Relatives, At-Home Test Kit for Expertly Processed Convenient Sampling

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Positive reviews›

Client d'Amazon

Very simple way to test your DNA

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2024

I don't have the results yet but I can say that the explanations are very good and make the process very simple.

One person found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Keri LeFevre

Inaccurate results-please research other kits.

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017

Please pay attention to the 5 star results. Most pay accolades to the simplicity of the process, but not the results. I give the kit one star for how easy it is to use, but zero for the results.

My wife bought this kit for me for my birthday as I was adopted on my fathers side of the family and we were interested in finding out what that looked like genetically. My mothers parents were off the boat Norwegians and we have quite a bit of documentation on their lineage back to the late 1,700's, but nothing from my biological father.

I got the results back and they said 7% of me is British Isles, which kind of makes sense. However, according to this test, I am 91% Western\Central European. First of all, If you look at the map that description covers an enormous area so doesn't tell me anything. Secondly, I know for a fact at least half of me comes from the Scandinavian countries and this worthless kit didn't even detect that.

I'm sure there are better kits available, so please don't waste your money on this one just because it's easy to use. If it doesn't provide you quality data, then ease of use doesn't matter.

141 people found this helpful

1,439 total ratings, 315 with reviews

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From the United States

Client d'Amazon

Very simple way to test your DNA

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2024

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

I don't have the results yet but I can say that the explanations are very good and make the process very simple.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Nancy Haga

Great product

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

Great product

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newyork10023

My Grandmother didn't know who her parents were!

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2023

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

I tested previously with another company, which provides better technical information but useless family genealogical tools.

AncestryDNA requires an expensive subscription service to make real use of this product. Be sure to look at the Family Plan for discounted rates for 5 individuals, and keep an eye out for the $1 for 3 month starter subscription! However, Ancestry found 35,000 matches to my DNA.

They now offer a feature, ThruLines, which can identify the Most Recent Common Ancestor ("MRCA") between you and a match if there is sufficient family tree to link you *** and that information doesn't have to be from your own family tree ***.

My Grandmother's story? Her father looks to be the brother of the man she thought was her father. ThruLines was able to establish an MRCA through the wife of the brother.

Ancestry has an interesting feature where they can determine which of the two pairs of each of the 22 autosomal chromosomes belongs to which parent if you can identify to which parent some of your matches are related. It does seem to make makes, such as identifying some matches, including the above MRCA, as belonging to my father's side of the family. I still need to delve deeper into my father's side of the family, but I am reasonably satisfied at this point.

Ancestry doesn't do mtDNA or Y DNA tests-- and the fact they threw out all the results of these tests in the past, leads me to believe they never will.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Keri LeFevre

Inaccurate results-please research other kits.

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

141 people found this helpful

Helpful

Emily Tee

Cheek swab, easy to use, decently quick turnaround time

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2024

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

Although I felt like this was a lesser known brand (maybe because other brands are advertised more), I was very pleased with this test. I didn’t realize how popular this testing service actually was in serious genealogy circles. Other services are a bit more commercial, while this one seems to be more in-depth for serious researchers.
This test was given to an older relative who was unable to spit in a tube which is needed for other ancestry tests. Instead, this test allows you to swab the tester’s cheek, which made the process much easier to perform on my family member.
Although the DNA relatives database seems to be smaller than other companies (meaning the sample pool in which ethnicities are drawn from is not as diverse), this test still gave me insight on my relative’s ethnicity breakdown and y-DNA. I believe this is the basic testing kit, and I know there are other kits that go deeper into y-dna and mtdna, but they come at a much steeper price.
Like other companies, you are able to download your raw dna files once they’re available to you. The turn around time for the test was maybe about 2 weeks before I received an email about the ethnicity results. Then maybe 2-3 weeks later, the y-dna results were ready for reviewing as well.
FamilyTreeDNA isn’t quite as user-friendly as other ancestry/genealogy DNA testing services, but it wasn’t difficult to learn how to use their website and the information you receive from your results. I did have some difficultly with trying to create a family tree through their service because it said my screen display (on my phone, tablet, and laptop were all too small).
From my understanding, it seems like since I’ve done one test already with them, that if I wanted to upgrade to a better y-dna test, I would not have to submit another DNA sample. (I hope to try this in the future.) This is a really great feature because the relative I tested might not be able to give another sample a few months from now.
I believe it’s important to note that you can only have one DNA test per account at the time I am writing this review, unlike other websites which allow you to manage multiple DNA results under one account. There is also no app available (as far as I can tell) to use these services or view your results. You have to do it from a web browser.
*Make sure you save your kit number somewhere before you send off your results. This is needed every time you log in to your account.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

M. Carson

Ancestry is a good choice if you are going to do no further ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2017

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

I've done testing with both Ancestry and FTDNA. If you're testing for ethnicity, you probably shouldn't be testing at all. DNA doesn't respect political/national boundaries. There's basically no difference between a German and an Englishmen genetically speaking. For the differences there are, they will be different at different times because of migrations/invasions. Both the Ancestry and FTDNA Family Finder test are autosomal DNA tests which tests chromosomes from both parents. Ancestry is a good choice if you are going to do no further testing. They have the largest DNA database to match upon and their ethnicity calculator comes up with results that most people would expect. FTDNA's recent changes in how they calculate ethnicities has produced strange results because of their reference population choices. You can also download your raw results and import them into FTDNA but Ancestry doesn't allow the opposite.

The reason to test with FTDNA is their additional testing products. If you're a male tester, you can do additional Y-DNA testing which only tests the Y-chromosome. This allows the test to reach much further back in time; autosomal testing is only good for about 4-5 generations. FTDNA also keeps your sample for 25 years so it's available for additional testing even if the original test taker isn't. So if you're considering doing any additional DNA testing, FTDNA is your best choice. Ancestry only has the autosomal test. FTDNA's test doesn't require any subscription fees on their site to access other member's trees like Ancestry does. They also have a Chromosome browser to check DNA matches -- Ancestry does not . FTDNA is much more about DNA testing; Ancestry is about their genealogy records. Both will come back with accurate DNA results - ie the raw DNA file. The ethnicity results for both should be looked at with extreme skepticism -- the testing is more suited for determining ancestral matches.

564 people found this helpful

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GKG

I Like Their Competitor Better!

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

1) As I have since learned due to use of another company, this Test Kit is NOT very "professionally packaged!" The instructions were not clear enough to encourage me to write that number down before mailing the envelope! Apparently, I accidentally mailed the number (a piece of paper) in the package with the test tube for the sample, so I was unable to receive my results! I tried, unsuccessfully, to find a way to get the results. It seems that that one piece of paper was the only other thing besides the test tube that had my number on it, and for this I give it one star!
2) My husband, who used the same brand of test kit, did save his number. However, when he got into his online results they were "so-so" -- pretty much general information and not very useful --relative connections were 3rd & 4th cousins. I'll give it another star for posting the information.
3) 3rd star goes to the customer service department who, after several e-mail contacts from me when trying to retrieve my results, offered to refund my money (this was not requested and NOT expected!). The refund happened immediately; however, I had already ordered another kit from a different company (as I mentioned earlier, that kit came in much more professional packaging and with much clearer information, plus 3 places to find the number and retain it!).

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

steve

i dislike all the negative reviews. they've been good to me

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2020

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

this will be the 2nd autosomal test ive ordered from family tree dna through amazon. for starters this is also the 5th test total ive ordered from family tree dna too, and overall im disappointed with many opinions and or outright problems people have been having with family tree dna. granted genealogy is one heck of a hard concept to fully understand. my own reasons in particular going with family tree dna was the comprehensive Y testing that you really can't get elsewere witch has really turned a few heads in my family but also confirmed many stories that have been pasted down. autosomal tests ive taken though them though i am inclined to think there is room for improvement or at least more comprehensive results but by no means did i fhave outright outrages in my results. this was a gift btw to further my own research but as far as ease of use and instructions i thought it was pretty straight forward and had no problems with any test ive ordered from them. no botched results, no shipping errors, no missing information. and even had pretty speedy results half the time. my advice is if you have any hesitations or concerns with the amazon reviews id recommend going directly to the website and reading up on them. they really do have an amazing Q and A section on darn near everything you can think of.

there are pros and cons with family tree dna for sure like high prices compared to other companies but you cannot find a more comprehensive test on the market as others have said, so just just do your research before deciding. from start to finish on this particular test it took 16 days to be processed. i don't think that is unreasonable at all. i just don't understand all the hate...the only issue ive had in particular was finding many matches but everyday the pool keeps growing so im not worried. this seems to be the only thing ancestry has over family tree dna.

48 people found this helpful

Helpful

Delilah Couch

DNA

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2023

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

This product item was recommended to me. If satisfaction I’ll purchase again but for now I’m ok

Helpful

donw68

Be ware.

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

Style: Test Kit - 1pkVerified Purchase

I sent in a sample for my 9yo grandson. Several months went by so I called for an update. Found out they won't process anyone under age 13. Was told the info is in the terms of service. Sure enough somewhere burried in the legal jargon is a kine or two stating such. Other services don't seem to restrict ages.

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