Big Y500

[clintonslayton76]

For those of us who have paid for 111 and Big Y in the past, the new offering of Big Y500 seems to address an issue that we did not get to take advantage of: seeing the ~400 more STRs that genomic testing or interpretation at other services predict for us.

Will our samples be considered in the future for "upgrading" to these, since we cannot compare these among one another from our preY500 testing?

I complained about this lack of additional STRs from my Big Y (which were interpreted on YFull) in the past and am glad to see FTDNA act on this, but at $800 it will be a tough sell to my untested participants.

[Ann Turner]

Thanks for the heads up. I see them for my husband, too. I assume the data miners will be out in force soon, although I haven't seen any requests for results.

I did notice that a goodly number of the STRs have low numbers of repeats, like four or five. The mutation rate for those would probably be very low, and they may not differ very much among people. It will be interesting to see.

[htb]

Y-500

Yea, MOST of my are 4, 5, 8! I think my highest is 13! I'd like to see them put over 500 markers in a project. YOU'D be there ALL day trying to match people!!!

[dna]

FTDNA today:

Moving forward, customers who purchase a Big Y-500 will also have to purchase or upgrade to the Y-DNA111 test. However, customers do not have to have a Y-STR test already before purchasing the Big Y-500 since it contains the Y-111. Big Y without STRs will no longer be available.

Do I understand it right that Big Y-500 is 200+ dollars more expensive than Big Y was, because it includes Y-DNA111 ?

However, the first sentence of the FTDNA announcement does not agree with such an interpretation.


Mr. W.

[dna]

Yea, MOST of my are 4, 5, 8! I think my highest is 13! I'd like to see them put over 500 markers in a project. YOU'D be there ALL day trying to match people!!!

I can see (in different people)

• FTY289=20
• DYS516=16
• DYF398A=16

Some 15s, more 14s.

I will now quietly await until someone explains how can I use STR values from Y 500 for my genetic genealogy research. So far where I had

• GD=0 in Y-DNA67, I have GD=3 in Y 500 with 11 no-calls
• GD=3 in Y-DNA67, I have GD=6 in Y 500 with 8 no-calls (4th cousin)

Mr. W.

[JeremyGlen2017]

Yes, you are now required to pay for the Y111 STR tests to be able to get BigY SNP testing. The price isn't bad for someone who has Y67 or Y111 already, but I'm not paying $629 for the two kits I have at Y12 to get to BigY. For $20 more, I can get them Y-Elite at FGC, and get a better sequencing, as well as get nearly all the same STR values when YFull analyzes the BAM.

I have seen many people talking about the initial comparisons in project for the Y500, and there is very little change in closeness within family lines. We'll still need SNP testing branch more twigs on the tree, but you'll just have to pay FTDNA for the STR values you may not want.

[clintonslayton76]

Answering part of my own question...

Answering part of my own question, I see that the BigY results on our project show the additional STRs on the Y-STR item in the kit page under yDNA and BigY500, and that these are downloadable.
BigY is now shown as BigY500.
I note that the yDNA Project grid is not expanded, and I did not think that it would be.

Other comments in response to my original posting about a "requirement" to purchase anything as a prelude to BigY500 are unclear to me.

I am happy that FTDNA honored my previous purhases by expandiny my STRs as requested. I am still unclear about the future of encouraging men to look at the Big Picture when the cost is quite high, since 67-111 STRs supports our surname conjectures, in is some cases, 12-37 markers might be taken as some as sufficient for that connection.

I will now quietly await until someone explains how can I use STR values from Y 500 for my genetic genealogy research.

I take this to mean that my YSTR matches could be altered now that my BigY500 values exist, but as the person stated: I am not sure how to use them since FTDNA is so mysterious about their interpretations, whereas YFull is much more explicit.

[Kamante]

Clinton - BigY is Dead?

Clinton, where did you see these words: "Moving forward, customers who purchase a Big Y-500 will also have to purchase or upgrade to the Y-DNA111 test. However, customers do not have to have a Y-STR test already before purchasing the Big Y-500 since it contains the Y-111. Big Y without STRs will no longer be available."

If the last sentence is true, there will be a number of very disappointed Y12 customers, including a close cousin of mine.

The strange thing (to me anyway) is that BigY always included about 500 STRs, discoverable via YFull.

[dna]

Clinton, where did you see these words: "Moving forward, customers who purchase a Big Y-500 will also have to purchase or upgrade to the Y-DNA111 test. However, customers do not have to have a Y-STR test already before purchasing the Big Y-500 since it contains the Y-111. Big Y without STRs will no longer be available."

If the last sentence is true, there will be a number of very disappointed Y12 customers, including a close cousin of mine.

The strange thing (to me anyway) is that Big Y always included about 500 STRs, discoverable via YFull.

That was me quoting FTDNA message to project administrators. Now, (I think ), I know they meant the following:

The customers who had previously purchased some Y DNA (STR) test and Big Y. On Tuesday, they got results from at least 389 additional Y STRs. Those 389+ STRs are in the panel 6 (STRs 112-561). Their results for the STRs 1-111 (panels 1-5) did not change = stayed at the same level as they had previously purchased it.

The customers who are purchasing Big Y-500. They will get the results like the (old) Big Y test before and all STR panels (1-6) = STRs 1-561. "customers do not have to have a Y-STR test already before purchasing the Big Y-500 since it contains the Y-111. Big Y without STRs will no longer be available." That is why Big Y-500 pricing depends on the level of previous Y DNA (STR) testing.

Mr. W.


P.S.
I am among the disappointed ones. I wanted to test family members who have Y-DNA67, and the effective price of Big Y jumped up...

[prairielad]

Received the following email, so other may want to check theirs if interested and if it applies to their kits

"Dear Customer,

We have launched the DNA Day Sale, and our new Big Y-500 upgrades are on sale!

Y-111 can upgrade to Big Y-500 for $349!

Due to a small glitch in the shopping cart for a few specific kits, pricing may not reflect the sale price of $349 for Y-111 upgrades to Big Y-500. The below kit # is one of the kits impacted. If you would like to upgrade to the Big Y-500, please use the below promo code so you can take advantage of the full sale price.

Coupon Code: "REMOVED CODE KIT SPECIFIC ONLY"
Kit Number: XXXXXX

Promo Code Rules:

Promo codes are kit specific and may only be used for the kit listed in this email
One time use only
May only be used to purchase your Y-111 upgrade to Big Y-500

We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have any issues, we have set up a customer service email for this specific case only. Please email customer service at [email protected].

Happy DNA Day!
The FamilyTreeDNA Team "

[dna]

[----] I note that the yDNA Project grid is not expanded, and I did not think that it would be. [----]

Since projects are about matching, I think you are 100% correct in your assumptions. FTDNA said: "Display in GAP is coming soon." (from FTDNA e-mail to project administrators) and "Big Y-500 will not include matching beyond Y-111." (in GAP).

[----] Other comments in response to my original posting about a "requirement" to purchase anything as a prelude to BigY500 are unclear to me. [----]

There is no need for two stages with Y DNA anymore. One single purchase of Big Y-500 gives:

• old Big Y
• Y-DNA111
• 389+ STRs

[----]
I take this to mean that my YSTR matches could be altered now that my BigY500 values exist, but as the person stated: I am not sure how to use them since FTDNA is so mysterious about their interpretations, whereas YFull is much more explicit.

FTDNA: "Big Y-500 will not include matching beyond Y-111." (message in GAP).

Thus for now nothing will change as far as matching goes.


Mr. W.

[Kamante]

That was me quoting FTDNA message to project administrators. . . . Mr. W.
P.S.
I am among the disappointed ones. I wanted to test family members who have Y-DNA67, and the effective price of Big Y jumped up...

Thank you for explaining, Mr. W.

[DWFlineage]

546/563 ydna match

I compared my 9th cousin to myself, who matches me 106/111, and we have 12 more mismatches between Strs 112-563, so now we are a 546/563 ydna match, lol.

Best regards, Doug

[clintonslayton76]

Thanks, Mr W....

FTDNA: "Big Y-500 will not include matching beyond Y-111." (message in GAP).

I see what they say, but the test is: if a man does the BigY-500 first, can I be absolutely certain that if he JOINS my project, his STRS will display as if he had taken 111?

The logical answer is yes, but I have been disappointed in the past by assuming that logic always prevails.

[dna]

I see what they say, but the test is: if a man does the BigY-500 first, can I be absolutely certain that if he JOINS my project, his STRS will display as if he had taken 111?

The logical answer is yes, but I have been disappointed in the past by assuming that logic always prevails.

I think..., FTDNA in a convoluted way announced that Panel 5 (67-111) will be done both ways: whatever technology was used before and using Big Y. Maybe they said Panels 1-5 (1-111), and I am too slow...

It would be nice to get a good explanation from FTDNA.


Mr. W.