I was provided with a GPS Origins DNA test kit for review. All opinions are my own.
I usually have a hard time coming up with birthday gift ideas for Ryan. He isn’t a very materialistic person, and he doesn’t have any hobbies that require regular purchases. For the most part, it seems like he has the things he wants because he just doesn’t want much.
This year my birthday gift to him was a GPS Origins DNA Ancestry kit. He had talked to me before about how his father’s side of the family did some genealogy research so he had some idea of where that side of the family originated from. His mom’s side was a mystery and he was curious about it. I thought that a GPS Origins DNA Ancestry kit would be a fun way to learn more about his roots.
I selected the GPS Origins Test & Report kit because he did not previously have DNA Results. If you do, you can go with the GPS Origins Report kit instead.
The kit arrives in the mail in a small package. You swab the inside of your mouth with a long cotton swab and then send the results back. The results take a few weeks to process, and you’ll be emailed once they are ready. We anxiously waited to get Ryan’s results and a few days ago the email popped in.
The result show several details about you. First up is Gene Pool Percentages. These show the three regions where the majority of your genes originate. Ryan’s results were 20.8% fennoscandia, 15.5% southern france and 13.1% orkney islands. The next section shows you a bit more detail about the regions that showed up in your results.
It also shows an estimated migration path for your ancestry. It shows two paths, one for each parent. However, they don’t have the ability to tell you which path belong to which of your parents. Having a half-sibling or other family member from one side of the family do a test and compare could get you the answer though.
And there is also a more detailed explanation about the migration of each line as well. Here is an example from Ryan’s results.
Overall we were really intrigued by the experience of trying a Gps origins Ancestry kit. It was neat to learn a little bit more about Ryan’s family history. I also thought it was just a really unique and clever gift for someone who doesn’t really want “stuff”.
Do you know your own ancestry? Where did your family come from?
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 12 responses.
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ellen beck
Great review. I have seen several of these and they all seem to offer something different. I really dontknow our origins. I have found though that some of the oral history can be misleading. One Aunt does genealogy, and she followed only one line mostly. I think we are mutts.
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hannah
what a unique idea! It sounds like a fun gift
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Jeanine Carlson
Wow, this is an awesome gift idea! Father’s Day is coming up soon!!
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Michelle S
My son wants to do something like this because my background is native american/french and my husband’s is from Europe.
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Lauryn R
I have been seeing these everywhere lately! My dad did one and actually found out more about his ancestry than he ever knew! I think it’s very cool to see exactly where your genes are from, I might actually do it to as I don’t know my mom or her side of the family at all. These kits would make a great gift as well. Thanks for sharing!
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shannon fowler
I would love to do something like this. I know my parents did something similar, but they didn’t get the results they thought they would.
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Sarah L
I’d be interested in seeing what my results are. I know most of my family comes from England and Scotland.
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Lisa
I just received my results. The blue is to represent paternal side and the red is maternal. I found it to be very accurate, but the migration represented my paternal grandmother and maternal grandmother. All of my grandfathers gene information was secondary. My grandmothers are both Latina and my grandfathers are both “white”, so I also had Fennoscandia as my #2 gene pool, but I have no idea how to break that down.
#2 Fennoscandia 8%
Origin: Peaks in the Iceland and Norway and declines in Finland, England, and FranceMy maternal grandfather was Italian and German (to my knowledge) and my paternal grandfather was Spanish and had some French since he was from the Basque countryside. I don’t have any connection to Iceland and Norway, unless my German great-grandmother was more than German. I was a little disappointed with my results and hope to use the raw data for another website.
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Terry
I was given the HomeDNA for my birthday. (This kit is formerly the GPS Origins kit). I grew up believing I was mostly Irish with a bit of German on my father’s side.
After reading the results of Emily’s boyfriend’s DNA, I am skeptical. My results are very similar.
20.3 % Fennoscandia
17.4% Southern France
14.1% Orkney Islands -
Nancy
okay… there is definitely something not right here. My son’s testing came in the same as well.. 22.2% Fennoscandia, 15.9% Southern France, and 12.8% Orkney Islands. Along with Terry, I am 100% skeptical and now I feel like we have been ripped off… Feel like we have been scammed… I will be calling them tomorrow..
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okay… there is definitely something not right here. My son’s testing came in the same as well.. 22.2% Fennoscandia, 15.9% Southern France, and 12.8% Orkney Islands. Along with Terry, I am 100% skeptical and now I feel like we have been ripped off… Feel like we have been scammed… I will be calling them tomorrow..
I would love to learn more about our family history! Thanks for the review! This is exciting stuff!