Y-DNA SNP kits

[DJ Brooks]

For the Y-DNA SNPs product (not the packs), does this cover all the MAJOR downstream branches, as opposed to the sub-branch SNPs of an Y-DNA SNP Pack? For instance, if I purchased the E-U174 test does this test for major downstream branches like E-Z5961, E-CTS7305, E-CTS2754, E-CTS9387, etc.? I do not see anything deeper than E-U174 offered and $39 for a single SNP sounds like highway robbery. There are no Y-DNA SNP Packs for E1b1a at all.

[Jim Barrett]

If you order a test for a single SNP you'll be told if you are positive or negative for that SNP.

[DJ Brooks]

At $39 it's hard to believe anyone pays for it. That's ridiculous. I still can't believe that.

[bhemph]

The times I have seen people pay it that maybe makes sense is where someone matches Y-111 and surname to someone who has done Big Y 700 and their tree says that they should have this one SNP since their paper trail goes back to the same person as someone else grouped under that SNP and there are 2 or 3 paper trail lines that come from that same SNP. So they just are looking to say yes that terminal point is good enough instead of possibly being able to add further branching to that SNP or use the cost of the Big Y 700.

So yes if you don't have an SNP pack and think you might get curious as to a few other downstream SNPs, it doesn't take too many single SNPs before the Big Y 700 is more cost effective. Having done an SNP Pack wouldn't make the Big Y 700 any cheaper either, so if curiosity about SNPs not included in a pack happens then it quickly points to just going all in on the Big Y 700.

[DJ Brooks]

You can get that info from Ancestry (raw data) or a 23andMe test. I think I paid $79 for 23andMe and they test for everything from A-R, plus mtDNA, plus atDNA. But FTDNA thinks $39 for a single SNP is reasonable? This insane. Under no circumstance would I ever purchase that. If it was up to me it would be outright illegal to charge that.

[vmkiili]

Don't waste your money on SNP packs or individual SNP tests. Use Nevgen branch predictor instead:
https://www.nevgen.org/
Remember to select "Subclades of X" (depending on your haplogroup) from the menu. If you are lucky, you can get a better estimate than what you can get from SNP tests. On the other hand, if your branch is rare, you can get an estimate with very low probability. In the latter case I recommend Big Y anyway.

[DJ Brooks]

Don't waste your money on SNP packs or individual SNP tests. Use Nevgen branch predictor instead:
https://www.nevgen.org/
Remember to select "Subclades of X" (depending on your haplogroup) from the menu. If you are lucky, you can get a better estimate than what you can get from SNP tests. On the other hand, if your branch is rare, you can get an estimate with very low probability. In the latter case I recommend Big Y anyway.

Nope. I have E-U174 from SNPs. E-L485 from the Nevgen predictor. I only have Y-37 information available to input and there are no subbranch options for E1b1a, except E-V38 itself, which is very broad.

I'm not paying $340 for a Big-Y to test everything under the sun when I already know exactly what branch I'm in and I have no Y-DNA matches over 12 STRs. FTDNA simply does not cater to Sub-Saharan lineages.

[vmkiili]

Nope. I have E-U174 from SNPs. E-L485 from the Nevgen predictor. I only have Y-37 information available to input and there are no subbranch options for E1b1a, except E-V38 itself, which is very broad.

I'm not paying $340 for a Big-Y to test everything under the sun when I already know exactly what branch I'm in and I have no Y-DNA matches over 12 STRs. FTDNA simply does not cater to Sub-Saharan lineages.

The idea of Big Y is to form new branches. They don't invent those branches out of thin air, they need Big Y test results for them.

Haplogroup E isn't very widely tested, but the most common subclade of E-U174 is E-CTS7305 and it has 11 known subclades and six potential subclades. (i.e. six kits with tons of private variants). It is highly probable that you belong to one of those 17 subclades, but you'll never know without Big Y. E-CTS7305 seems to be almost 4000 years old haplogroup, and E-U174 is maybe 500 years older than it.

It seems that testing of European haplogroups is maybe 10 years ahead of the rest of the world. It just takes time for the others to catch up. And lots of tests.