With the recent announcement by 23andMe that they will now offer a DNA test that is for genealogy purposes; you now are able to fish in all three ponds for a much lower cost. Last week 23andMe announced (but only in the U.S.) that they are now offering a DNA test for genealogy purposes, at a cost of $99.00 U.S. If you are looking for your health results you can get that information by purchasing their more expensive test at a cost of $199. Note; that should you decide that you want to add the health element to your genealogy kit at a later date you can do that for an addition $125.00 U.S.
With the addition of this test it makes it easier to fish in all three ponds; well at least if you are from the U.S. Currently Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) has also reduced their Family Finder Kit to $79.00 U.S. and Ancestry sells their kits for $99.00 U.S. for U.S. testers.
Why do you want to fish in all three ponds? Lets look at it this way. You do your testing at Ancestry and you find some cousins. But what if more of your cousins decide to test at Family Tree DNA or 23andMe? Then you’ll never connect with them unless you and they decide to transfer their info to a third-party site such as Gedmatch. Which I would suggest you do if you decide to not test at all three companies.
So for $277.00 U.S. you can get a “fishing license”. Here’s hoping that 23andMe makes the same change for their Canadian customers. But in the meantime; my U.S. cousin can test out the waters at 23andMe. Cuz I’m always looking for cousins.