Deck paint type

Several years ago I built a cedar deck, looks nice. But----every year I stain it. I have seen the solid color stain that looks like paint. Has anyone here put this on their deck? It seems it would hold up a lot longer than the stain.
Behr sells a heavy stain (doesnt look like paint) and it goes on nice but it wears off after a year.
Any suggestions as what to do. I do like the look of the stain, the grain comes out and it just looks good, but lots of upkeep.

I used Benjamin Moore's Arborcoat semi-solid stain a year ago and it still looks great after only one coat. The reccomendation is for 2 coats plus a sealer, which I will complete this year. The deck is pressure treated pine and I did a thorough job in de-mildewing it and cleaning it beforehand.

After 15 years of twice yearly coating my deck with Flood CWF and watching it fade away after three weeks, we put on Behr Solid Color Stain. Its seems just like paint. Went to white top with gray sides to match new pool. Put it on last fall and after one winter it looks surprisingly good. I figured it'd fall right of since the CWF is kind of oily and linseedy. But it seems to be holding on.

I just finished the front porch floor, pressure treated pine, with Olympic Maximum solid stain. I first sanded down the old semi-solid which lasted about three years and put down one coat of Maximum. It"s garanteed 7 years. We will see.

My experience is that a solid color stain lasts at least two or three times longer than a semi-transparent stain.

In summer 2007 I switched the cedar sided house fron semi-transparent to solid color stain when I changed to a lighter color. The house got two coats to hide the darker color and it still looks good five years later. With the semi-transparent oil stain it needed restaining every three years.

In spring 2008 I switched the cedar deck from a semi-transparent oil stain to a solid color latex stain when I changed it to a lighter color too. It took two coats to hide the darker color.

The semi-transparent oil based stain had to be restained every one or two years. Two coats of semi-transparent were not recommended. The finish would look flat after the first year and would be bad by the second year.

Tonight I finished restaining the flat surfaces of the deck for the first time four years after switching to solid color stain. After four years the solid color stain was getting scratched up from shoveling snow off the roof to the deck and then off the deck and the finish had lost its gloss on the flat surfaces. I touched up the scratches and then put one new coat over all the flat surfaces. The vertical surfaces still look good.

I used Pittsburg Paints Ultra Advanced solid color latex stain. In 2008 I think the stain sold for about $25/gallon on sale at Menards. The old cans list an 8 year limited guarantee for flat surfaces and 20 years for vertical surfaces. This year it sells for $30/gallon on sale at Menards and the new cans do not list a guaranted life. Other brands should be similar quality.