Franklin Sports X-40 USAPA Approved Pickleballs - 12 Pack - Ember

The Ember pack is the Franklin X-40 in a bright orange colorway, twelve to a box. It costs about $29 on Amazon, or roughly $2.40 a ball, and the X-40 listing has a 4.7-star average from about 26,000 ratings across its pack sizes and colors.

Why buy orange

The ball itself is identical to the yellow version: one-piece polyethylene, 40 machine-drilled holes, 26 g, 74 mm, USA Pickleball approved. Only the color is different.

That matters more than it sounds. Yellow can disappear against a pale court surface, a light fence or an overcast sky, and orange usually doesn't. New players still learning to read the ball off the paddle get the most out of the extra contrast, which is why our pickleball balls for beginners guide makes this pack the refill once you're playing weekly.

Look at your local courts before you choose. If the surface is orange or red, stick with optic yellow.

Who it suits

• Beginners moving up from a 3-pack who want spares in the bag
• Players on light-colored or faded courts where yellow blends in
• Anyone who plays into the evening or under cloud

If you play in a gym, this is the wrong ball. Outdoor balls bounce fast and play loud on wood floors, and our indoor vs outdoor guide explains why the 26-hole Franklin X-26 suits gyms better.

The price swings more than the yellow pack's

This is the main difference between the two 12-packs. Over three years of our price tracking, the Ember pack was 10% or more below its usual price on about 21% of days, roughly twice as often as the optic yellow 12-pack.

Its usual price was about $29.34. It has gone as high as $42.55 and as low as $11.99 in November 2024, when the Black Friday weekend cut was about 62%. Across the pickleball balls we track, March has been the cheapest month on average and October the most expensive.

So if the Ember pack shows well above $29, that's a high price for it. Wait, or buy the yellow pack, which has stayed close to $29 most of the time.

More reading

Our Franklin X-40 review covers how the ball plays and holds up. If you're comparing it with cheaper certified balls, best pickleball balls has the full lineup, and the bulk buying guide compares cost per ball across pack sizes.