DNA ancestory kits, who has used these?

[KiltedKnome]

Steve (The Wizard of BC) and I took part in the National Geographic Genome Project, which is a 5-year study of human migration. Being female, I could only track my maternal side (mitochondrial DNA), but he did both paternal (Y-chromosome) and maternal. The results were interesting and it was nice to contribute to a study. It did lend credence to some family oral history on Steve's paternal side.

[macneighill]

I had the Family Tree DNA 37 marker test done last year. I'm hoping to order a deep clade test. This should determine my subclade assignment. Which will give a better answer of where my family line originated from. Right now, its kind of a broad area, covering a region from Germany to Spain to the British Isles (my highest number of exact matches have been Ireland and England). The deep clade will dig a little deeper and pinpoint a smaller region of origin. Family Tree DNA's website is: http://www.familytreedna.com/.

Is the 17 marker all they offer? 17 markers is kind of vague but, it will give you a generic haplogroup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup). To determine a subclade, you'll need to more extensive test. The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation is another organization that offers DNA testing. Their test is free. You can check them out at: http://www.smgf.org/.

I'm want to participate in the National Geographic Genographic Project. Maybe this year, I will.

All in all, these tests will pretty much only show where you line originated from. As for tracing an ancestor . . it doesn't do much. If you do have matches to your Y signature, it will only show that sometime in the past, you share a common ancestor. It doesn't say whom or when. You can only hope to exchange information to see if you can find a match somewhere in your line.