MyHeritage DNA Test Kit: Genetic Testing for Ancestry & Ethnicity Covering 2,114 Geographic Regions and DNA Matching to Relatives

UPDATED 9/4/19 following results. See below. In recent months I’ve bought a couple of ancestry dna kits. Each offers something a little different and together, the data and information returned is building a complex and fascinating picture of my roots. This kit is beautifully presented and if you were looking for a gift, it’s certainly quality packaging. The test itself is very easy to undertake. The kit has a unique identifier code and you need to register on the myheritage site in order to input the code and activate the test process. There are two vials with screwtops and two sterile sealed swabs. You open one swab pack and use the stick to wipe round the cheek inside your mouth for around a minute. Then drop the swab end into the vial, break off the stick and close firmly. Repeat for other cheek, then place both vials in the supplied bag and seal in provided envelope. The contents are returned to Houston, Texas (postage was £3.30 air mail). Results are promised within 4 to 6 weeks and I’ll update this review with detail of the information they give. So far, very impressed and believe the data will add to the detail of my family background. I already know my Haplogroup and subclade from another test, so this will, I hope, give more information about specific areas. UPDATE 9/4/19 Results took longer than expected, but MyHeritage did keep me informed about delay (some systems upgrade). The data is very easy to follow and supports findings from other two tests. The ethnicity details are more refined than on Ancestry, with a lot of very specific data about European and Central American background. I’m impressed by the accuracy and even more impressed by a list of >2500 DNA matches by name and location. Various system tools allow you to identify relatives by country, ethnicity or closeness of match. Contact is free, access to their trees etc requires membership. There are three levels depending on what info you require. Currently, I’ve just used free contact to find out more info directly from individuals who are happy to help. MyHeritage has provided more contacts than Ancestry and there’s less American bias. Overall, I think this was a worthwhile investment and it’s added a lot of interesting background to the other tests. I’m happy to recommend as either a starter kit as a taster and potentially an invaluable tool for more detailed genealogy. You can upload raw data too.

Worked well, software easy to download

After months of considering this test I eventually decided to give it a go. The kit arrived with clear instructions and the need to register online. After completing the cheek swabs I duly secured them in the vials provided and sent them off via the post office for an additional cost of £9.75 (tracked). Having previously read many reviews I was expecting to wait 4 to 8 weeks, but it took just 3 weeks before I could view the results online... I'm English born and bred, my parents are both English born and bred, as are all my grandparents, yet the results came back 47% English, 46% Scandinavian and 6% Iberian. What I did find fascinating were the three circled sections. The first inner circle is 'Close Family' of which there were one, my half brother (27.1% match), who hadn't told me he had done the test so I wasn't expecting him to pop up, but sure enough he was there. MH's estimate was that this match was either a half-brother or nephew... Impressive! The second was 'Extended Family' and I found that I had a first cousin, once removed (5%) who I'd never met or even heard of before. I've left him a message and will update this again if contact is made and it is proven that we are in fact related. After my half-brother I have little doubt that we are. The final section consisted of 4996 matches showing people from all over the world that have a small match (1.1% or less in my case) which are stated as 3rd or 4th (or higher) cousins. All in all an interesting first step into the world of DNA and ancestry.

Bought this to test my husbands DNA heritage as it had good reviews but after the 7 week wait for the results to come back (online only results BTW) he was surprised to see the results. They came back as being 100% NW Europe (Germany & France basically). 1st off, surely it is impossible for any persons DNA can be 100% of any single area, thats just not physically possible I would think, especially as its not the area that the last 12 generations of the family have lived in. 2nd his ancestry has been traced back 12 generations already and every one, without fail, is either English or Welsh (2 seperate categories and not included in NW Europe) 3rd it matched him to a 1st cousin 2 times removed, sharing Great Grandparents...great I thought, it obviously works so at least they tested the correct DNA! 4th the cousin he was matched with has 64% Scandanavian heritage, 28% English and 12% Welsh (plus others) yet his DNA was 100% from a different region! 5th there was a 3rd cousin it was matched with (these matches are from other testers on their site) and his DNA was 69% English! How can other close relatives have such different DNA as my husband yet he has none sharing with them at all, their results were much closer to what his DNA should have come out as IMO. This was questioned in the "help" contact of MyHeritage and in 3 replies so far it basically says....get a close reletive (Mother, Father, Sister or Brother) to take the test to verify...but why would we waste £70+ on another test only to have that come back as wrong, and also his Father and Mother have long since died. Their answer was that all DNA of a certain area gets mixed up with other close geographical proximity DNA's which basically means they cannot tell between French & German, Danish, Scandanavian, English, Welsh, Irish, Scots as they are all so close to each other. As EVERY email from them has gone over, not an acceptable excuse. Surely this defeats the whole point of the DNA test? especially when there are areas designated to each individual area on their report...all of which came back as 0% except for NW Europe which was 100%, an area not relevant in the last 300 years. Why would DNA of a certain area be totally ignored, surely if the ancestors lived in the UK for 300 years then the DNA would come back as a certain percentage of UK based? Over all I cannot recommend this product as it is because it does not deliver as it states it will. Save your money and take a different DNA test.

Easy to use works well, however you need to screenshot your results to look back on them as they only let you view them for a limited time after you receive them.

Sam produkt bardzo ciekawy i nie żałuje zakupu jednak spodziewałem się SPORO więcej! Mapka którą załączyłem to praktycznie wszystko co dostałem. Brak dokładniejszych informacji co do pochodzenia, brak jakichkolwiek dodatkowych informacji w pakiecie podstawowym. Większość funkcji dostępnych na stronie wymaga opłacenia abonamentu. Nie żałuję ale wybrał bym inną firmę jak bym miał jeszcze raz decydować o zakupie. Pozdrawiam

Hice el test y, ¡estoy bastante sorprendida! Los resultados son súper interesantes y ofrecen muchísima información sobre mis orígenes y posibles conexiones familiares. Es increíble ver cómo se mezcla todo mi árbol genealógico de diferentes partes del mundo, y me ha dado un montón de curiosidades sobre mis raíces. Ahora, siendo honesta, no estoy 100% segura de la fiabilidad de todo lo que me muestran. Aunque los resultados parecen bastante completos, siempre queda la duda de hasta qué punto es preciso, sobre todo cuando se trata de coincidencias con otras personas. Pero, independientemente de eso, la experiencia ha sido fascinante. ¡Es como descubrir un pedazo de historia familiar que ni sabía que existía! En resumen, si buscas algo divertido y emocionante para conocer un poco más sobre tu genética, ¡definitivamente vale la pena! Aunque no puedo garantizar que todo sea 100% fiable, los resultados son, sin duda, muy interesantes y te dan una perspectiva única de tus orígenes. ¡Recomendado si te gusta explorar tu pasado!

Funkade bra

"The most useless junk I've ever bought. 0% useful information."

I had always known that I was a multiracial black person but I never knew that I had 10 different ethnicities and that I'm almost as much European (and a few other things) as I am African. I guess this is true for a lot of black people who are descendants of slaves. We lost our connection to our African culture and our connection to our European ancestry was denied to us due to racial hatred so we were never able to really embrace other parts of who we are. (I realize that this is changing now because there are so many interracial relationships and more and more people are no longer tripping about pigmentation, but I grew up in the southeastern United States and I am in my 40s. I'm not an old lady, but I've seen my share of racial hatred and social/economic/cultural separatism.) Since I've always identified culturally as a black person, I've never really allowed myself to consider all the other things that are running through my veins. I am literally a melting pot of ethnicities from all over the world that includes things such as Iberian, Balkan, Syrian, Portuguese, Irish/English/Welsh, South Asian and so much more. I found that my African ancestors descend from Nigeria predominately plus a little bit from Kenya and other parts of West Africa. It's so funny that several years ago I met a co-worker who was originally from Ghana, and even though we were just co-workers and not at all romantically interested in each other, every time he would talk and tell me stories about Ghana (which is in West Africa), I felt like time was standing still and a few times I felt oddly emotional. Who knows? Maybe my soul knew I was standing face to face with someone from the very region of Africa where my some of my ancestors are from and that resonated at the inexplicable, far reaching levels of the soul. I am also part Native American. It was one of the best gifts I ever gave myself because I spent a lot of heartfelt time really considering all of the people that had to come together in order for me to be here. With love and sadness and forgiveness, I accepted that some of those "unions" may have been by force while others may have been by choice. I found a whole thing to be healing, cathartic, and affirming in a sense. I was able to research some of the areas where my descendants come from and really contemplate what their journeys might have been like. But truly one of the most shocking things is that I was able to prove the paternity of a half aunt who I had always heard of but who has been estranged from the family for more years than I've been alive. I have never met her. I knew her name and that she was said to be the product of a relationship that my maternal grandfather had outside of his marriage. For that reason, she was not called in to the fold even though she grew up in relatively close proximity to her other siblings. Some even expressed doubt about her paternity. Apparently, she had submitted a MyHeritage DNA test and her name popped up in my list of matches at the very top of the list as a close match. This thing was dead on. It said that she had to be either an aunt or great-aunt. Sadly, she didn't respond when I tried to reach out but this proves she is biologically part of us. I wouldn't mind trying some other DNA test from other companies to compare results and see what they come up with, but for my first foray into DNA testing, this was an incredible experience and I would recommend it to anyone!