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This article examines the impacts of mode hopping on the sensing performance of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) and explores the potential for developing economical OFDR interrogators employing low-cost distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. By conducting numerical simulations, this study reveals that mode hopping has minimal effects on distance sensing measurements in free space due to the limited duration of beat interference signal at the incorrect frequency within the coherence length. Additionally, the simulations indicate that mode hopping only slightly affects the distributed strain sensing of OFDR, resulting in an error range of less than ±<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1</mn><mspace width="0.166667em"></mspace><mo>µ</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">ε</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> when <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>100</mn><mspace width="0.166667em"></mspace><mo>µ</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">ε</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> is applied to the sensing fiber. These findings highlight the potential of using low-cost DFB lasers with a 1-nm wavelength sweep range and a 1-MHz linewidth as tunable laser sources in OFDR while maintaining reliable and accurate sensing performance.