Franklin Pickleball Paddles: Budget Pilot and Signature vs the C45 Line

The fiberglass rows are on the top half of the table, the carbon rows below. Franklin labels none of these with a Control or Power tag on the listings we track, so the face and core columns do that job.

Both use Franklin's MaxGrit fiberglass face over a polypropylene honeycomb core, and both are on the USA Pickleball list, so either can go to a sanctioned event. The difference is how much Franklin tells you and how thick the core is.

The Pilot's listing gives a weight range and a 10 mm core and stops there: no length, width, handle or grip size. A 10 mm core is thin by current standards: every other Franklin we track is 13 to 16 mm, and no other paddle in our catalogue that states a core goes below 12 mm. Thinner cores are generally described as livelier and less forgiving, which matters less for a first few sessions than price does. At around $30, or around $55 for two with balls, the Pilot is one of the cheapest approved paddles in our catalogue.

The Signature Series costs a little more and publishes everything: a 16.5 x 7.5-inch elongated face, a 5.6-inch handle, a grip size and a weight range, plus a swing weight of 116 and twist weight of 6.95 on the 13 mm version. If you are buying one paddle to keep, the Signature is the better-documented choice; if you are buying four for the family, the Pilot sets win on price.

For households, count what comes in the box. The Pilot set includes two paddles and four Franklin X-40 outdoor balls, so it covers a first doubles game if two more players bring their own paddles. Outdoor balls are made for outdoor courts; if you will play mostly in a gym, budget for indoor balls separately. Our pickleball paddle set page compares Franklin's set with JOOLA, Selkirk and the Amazon-only brands' sets.

Most shoppers compare the two Signature versions on core thickness, but Franklin's listings show a second difference that matters as much: the grip. The 13 mm version has a 4.25-inch grip circumference and the 16 mm version a 4.5-inch grip. The 13 mm also weighs a little less, 7.5–8 oz against 7.9–8.3 oz.

Grip size is personal and easy to measure. Selkirk's published method is to measure from the middle crease of your palm to the tip of your ring finger; with a height fallback of 4 inches below 5'3", 4.25 inches from 5'3" to 5'8", and 4.5 inches above 5'8". So a shorter player, or anyone with smaller hands, will often be better served by the 13 mm Signature even if they wanted the thicker core, because a grip that is too big is harder to fix than one that is too small. An overgrip adds circumference; nothing removes it.

Our pickleball paddle grip size tool walks through the measurement, and the 14 mm vs 16 mm guide covers the core side of the choice.

The FS Tour Series Dynasty Pro 14mm fills the gap between the fiberglass starters and the C45. It moves to a T700 raw carbon face, which makers generally market for spin, and Franklin describes a one-piece construction with the core fully encased in carbon and a high-density foam-injected perimeter.

It is also the heaviest Franklin we track at 8 to 8.4 oz, with the same 5.6-inch handle as the rest of the range and a 4.3-inch grip. Extra weight usually means more stability and plow-through on drives and a slightly slower paddle at the net; our pickleball paddle weight guide explains the trade-off. Franklin does not list dimensions or swing weight for the FS Tour on the listing we track.

At around $75 it is the paddle to look at if you have played for a season on fiberglass, want a carbon face and do not want to pay top-line prices. It joined the USA Pickleball list in October 2023 under the name FS Tour Dynasty 14MM.

It also helps to see where the FS Tour sits against other brands at a similar price. In our catalogue, Selkirk's SLK Evo Control XL offers a thermoformed T700 carbon face on a 16 mm core for less, with a 7.6–8.1 oz weight, a 16.4 x 7.4-inch face and a 5.75-inch handle on Selkirk's own page; JOOLA's Graf Edge 16mm offers a raw carbon face with full dimensions and a 4.125-inch grip for about $50. The FS Tour's case is its fully encased core and raw carbon face, and its 14 mm core if you want a thinner one. The cheap pickleball paddles page lines these up.

The C45 Dynasty Pro is Franklin's current top construction in our catalogue: double-thermoformed as a unibody, with a 16 mm PowerFlex polymer core that adds an inner foam layer, and a T700 carbon face with a 45-degree peel-ply texture. Its listing says it is approved by both USA Pickleball and the United Pickleball Association, and the USA Pickleball list shows it as C45 Dynasty 16MM, added 04/17/2025.

Because Franklin publishes swing and twist weights for both the C45 and the 13 mm Signature, we can compare them directly. Both list a swing weight of 116, so they should take similar effort to swing. The twist weights differ: 6.3 for the C45 against 6.95 for the Signature. Twist weight measures resistance to twisting on off-centre hits, so on Franklin's own figures the fiberglass Signature is the more twist-resistant of the two. That is a reminder that price buys construction and materials, not every measurable property.

Retailers list other C45 models, such as a C45 Tempo, that we have not catalogued. If you want one of those, check its specs on Franklin's site or the retailer's page before buying.

Swing weight describes how much effort a paddle takes to swing, which depends on where its mass sits as well as how much there is; twist weight describes how much it resists turning in the hand when the ball strikes away from the centre. Makers measure them with their own methods, so compare figures within one brand's published specs, as here, rather than across brands. Franklin does not publish either number for the Pilot, the 16 mm Signature or the FS Tour on the listings we track.

On the list copied 2026-11-08, Franklin Sports has 112 entries, more than any other single brand name (Selkirk has more if you add up its several registry names). Franklin's dated entries start in 2016, and it added 20 entries in 2025 and 12 so far in 2026. All six Franklin pickleball paddles in our catalogue match an entry by name.

A large entry count reflects how long a brand has been registering paddles and how many versions it sells, including separate entries for each core thickness. It does not make any one Franklin paddle better than a rival, but it does make Franklin paddles easy to verify: the model names on the listings match the registry closely, unlike brands that register under internal codes. If you play sanctioned events, that is a small but real convenience. Our USA Pickleball approved paddles tool searches the same copy.

To check a Franklin paddle yourself, read the model name and thickness printed on the paddle, then search the list for 'Franklin Sports' and that name. Registry names are close to the retail names but not identical: the Signature Series appears as 'Franklin Signature Series 13MM' and '16MM', and the C45 as 'C45 Dynasty 16MM'. Match the thickness as well as the name, because Franklin registers each core thickness as a separate entry.