Dear people of dndbeyond,

I asked my players what they wanted to do when they get a day of downtime in the larger city they are currently in.

One of my players said he wanted to get a spyglass. So, I looked it up here on D&D Beyond and found it was 1000 Gold pieces to buy one but it doesn't state a specific in-game benefit for a player character, it merely states:

"Objects viewed through a spyglass are magnified to twice their size."

Why would someone buy this for 1000 Gold pieces? Is there a hidden use I don't know about or should I significantly lower the price? If so, what would be appropriate?
The session will be tomorrow, i only just now got the pc's message.

- thanks!

It literally just lets them see farther, technically, by magnifying whatever they are looking at to be twice the apparent size that it is with the naked eye. I imagine it's so expensive mostly because they're hard to make.

that said, lowering the price a bit is entirely up to you (and honestly I probably would if you're doin' a sea based campaign especially)

I think the big advantage that could come up with using a spyglass, is making out details from a distance.

In the average D&D game spyglasses end up meaning very little. In others, it could become the most useful non-magical item available. It all depends on what the campaign has in it and how you, as the DM, choose to treat it.

If you have lots of wild exploring, you can have it double the distance revealed to the party. Maybe it can help them see through large illusions, like hallucinary terrain, by making it easier to spot inconsistencies. Perhaps you give them advantage on their Survival checks to correctly travel towards their destination.

In my previous campaign my DM also didn't realize what it did but just had it give the user advantage on perception checks when used in an open environment (it gave no benefit indoors).

Just be sure to make it do less than the Eyes of the Eagle

It can also serve as a bit of valuable loot.

Or be the rascal totin' a fine spyglass loosely about the waist, that'll impress the rival missus who knows a thing or two about what a thing's worth.

I would advise the player that you don't foresee getting much use out of it, but 5e often has a mid-game issue with having too much gold, especially with GMs who hand out lots of loot.

I ruled that it removes disadvantage to perception checks at distance that rely on sight.

It doesn't really need to do less, it costs 1000gp  which is more than an uncommon magic item in most cases, and it has to be held by hand, whereas the eyes of the eagle are hands free

I think the confusion here is trying to reconcile the two different, sometimes contradictory value systems in D&D. A spyglass is not 1000gp because it is worth that to a PC; it's 1000gp because sometimes D&D is a medieval simulator and this value is trying to reflect the cost of a delicately manufactured item in that era.

Weapons and armor are valued with priority to the game side of D&D. These are upgradable features of a PC and they must be priced as such. Stuff like bags of rice and spyglasses are valued with priority to the simulation side of D&D. The exist primarily to provide verisimilitude and immersion in a world different than our own.

While people can and have gone through great mental gymnastics to justify the cost of X compared to Y, the truth is that sometimes things don't line up quite right. And that's ok. It's only a problem if you make it one.

The problem is really twofold:
1) Eyes of the Eagle grant advantage on perception checks and allow you to make out objects as small as 2 feet across. That’s not really a whole lot so the spyglass should be doing something less - perhaps granting a proficiency bonus to perception checks made with it. (yes an extra proficiency bonus n top of what ever you have so expertise in perception and a spy glass would grant 3x PB added to the perception check)
2) spyglasses actually do a lot better than 2x magnification, they are Telescopes and even Galileo’s original was 8x ( the one he used to look at Jupiter was 20x). Hey were used to read code flags on ships at distances of upto 3-5 miles so it’s a mundane item that could do pretty much the same as the eyes of an eagle but you don’t need a mage to make them so they are good for low magic campaigns.

That’s why it’s so expensive.

Exactly, plus they work just fine in dead magic zone

A spyglass ... is a style item. It doesn't do anything, technically. I've played RPG's for 35+ years, and never been in a situation where it made a real difference whether I had or didn't have a spyglass. But I've enjoyed having one immensely at times. 

It's like a hat. Does your character have a hat? Propably so, but no one cares, and it never comes up. Ah, but what if your character has a fancy hat, with a large colorful feather taken from a griffon's mane. What then? Such a hat happens to cost the same as a spyglass, and do precisely the same thing: Add 1000 gp's worth of style to your character.