Hi what I want to do is model in Blender 2.58 & export it to Maya 2009 SP1a for texturing & lighting, what exporter to use in Blender 2.58 & what import settings to use in Maya 2009 SP1a ?
Spend the next 60 seconds trying the default settings for .obj, .dea or fbx and see which works best best for your particular model. I assume from your question it is just a mesh with no armatures or animations.
So far .obj is working great !