"so 1 should be 1" which is way way way way way too low unless you are trying to kill the grass or are mowing a bowling or putting green"
Its funny you say that! Besides mowing the lawn with my rider, I also mow fairways & putting greens on a little par-3 9 hole golf course I built in one of the fields on our little farm! I am looking into the mower deck settings & height equivalents because I just purchased a used fairway "reel" mower to handle the big job of mowing the fairways on my little course. I want to set the reel height to approximately the equivalent of the rider settings (Between 2 & 2.75). I have been mowing the "greens" on the lowest settings (1.5 & 1.75). last spring I purchased some retired field turf and I plan on replacing the "real grass" with field turf for my greens. I have not been able to do that yet though because it has rained hard at least once a week (here in Maryland), every week, since April 2018, so things are still very wet here and I'm unable to finish that project! Thanks you again for taking the time to answer my question and to try to help me. Your information is very helpful! Have a great day!