I own labradors and am shortly thinking of eye tests.  Can someone tell me is the optigen test really necessary

where do you live

What does the breed club recommend?

I think that if it is on offer then it is best to do it. At least you will know if your dog is unaffected, affected or just a carrier.

I'm when I can afford it going to get my Spanish Optigen tested.  We've never had a case of PRA here and test the normal way, but they do have the Optigen test available so will go this way at some point.

Up until relatively recently we all relied upon getting our dogs eyetested by an opthalmologist  to try and establish weather they had any of the inherited conditions that affected the breed. This was the best we could do, unfortunately this still meant that some puppies would be bred that would inherit these conditions when unaffected but carrier dogs where bred together. The advancements in DNA testing now allowing us to know the carrier status for these dogs means that affected puppies should no longer need to be bred. The carrier and affected dogs do not have to be excluded as they can be usfully used to clear dogs and then status of puppies tested for and so on until gradually these problems are bred away from without the need to lessen the genepool very severely.
So IMO I would say yes the DNA tests are necessary to try and breed the healthiest puppies possible and that should always be whats aimed for.

Looking at the KC recommended tests/tests available am I right in thinking the DNA tests are only available to certain breeds?

The DNA tests developed so far can be breed specific.
  So in a sense yes. I wouldn't suggest submiting a blood sample from a BC for the prcd-PRA test that is available for a Lab or Goldie etc however I would do the tests that are available for the BC etc such as CEA, CL and with other than Optigen TNS and vice versa
The KC has now started adding these results to the dogs pedigrees in BC's at the request of the Border Collie Breed Clubs and the health foundation.
Edited to add the DNA list on the KC website seems to be abit behind.

Opitgens list of available tests can be found Here

Unfortunately DNA testing is only for certain breeds and even more unfortunate is that the companies that do this don't work together so we cannot have the DNA testing for say PRA done here in this country for our breed we have to have it done via the Optigen test.

> Unfortunately DNA testing is only for certain breeds

At this moment it is only available for certain breeds but research  is being carried out all the time, after all the tests that are available have only been around for a very few years

> even more unfortunate is that the companies that do this don't work together so we cannot have the DNA testing for say PRA done here in this country for our breed we have to have it done via the Optigen test.

Yes it would be easier and possibly cheaper to be able to have these tests done in this country however I have sent blood samples to both USA and Australia in order to have the breed relavent tests done and will do so  agian. In my opinion we need to use these advancements for the health of any future puppies.