I used
Family Tree DNA about six months ago and have no complaints. I opted for a 25 marker test (options were 12, 25 and 37 at the time) and because I was able to join an existing surname project, the price was reduced to $150 IIRC.
Is it worth the money? Depends if you have it to spend and also what your goals are. Personally, after paying for my kids' college, spending $150 was nothing.
Why DNA? I was in the middle of a genealogy project and while I did discover who my GG-grandparents were who emigrated from Ireland, I don't think I'm going to be able to trace them back to their original town or village. So, ultimately, my goal is to find a living relative in Ireland.
Interesting side note: the DNA test produced an exact 25 marker match with another guy who lives in Texas. We do not have the same surname and my family has no known connection to Texas. Very interesting...
Interesting side note: the DNA test produced an exact 25 marker match with another guy who lives in Texas. We do not have the same surname and my family has no known connection to Texas.
You know, someone told me that if you match 25/25 that you are very likely to match pretty close if you upgrade. This has been the case for us. People who matched 25/25 upgraded to 37 and matched 36/37 (different surnames). Turns out there was an unknown adoption back in the late 18th century that no one knew about. Technically, not an adoption, but the child was raised by someone else and the story got lost through the years. If I were you, I'd upgrade and/or look more into this. There is probably something there that you don't know about! A great mystery!