ideal site map file page size?

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and somewhat new to seo, and this is my first post here, so if this question is posted wrong, let me know.

I was going to put a site map page on my web site so google and other bots have a natural way of finding all my product pages. But what is the best number of links to have on a site map page? I have over 43,900 different batteries and battery product accessories so that will mean over 43,900 different links in my site map page. If I limit each page to 100 links as per the guidelines I've read, that means I'll have over 439 site map pages. Somehow that does not sound right. The idea is to have each individual product page naturally indexed, not to have site map pages to site map pages indexed. What is the best format to use in my case? My webmaster says just put all 43900 links on one web site map page. Do you agree? How do you recommend I format (the number of links per) natural web site map page?

Thanks.