Maybe I'm doing it wrong all along but I leave mine at 1 and go by the help text when mousing over the Raytrace bounces item.  If I'm doing something for production that has minimal reflections, I go with 2.  I roll it up to 4 depending on what else is in the scene, mirrored surfaces or whatnot.

Pretty much for all the settings, I try to go with the lowest possible number that gives good results.

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