As the saying goes, I feel your pain! Yes, "very mixed," as you put it, is a good summary of what "deck experts" say about staining. I've been researching it online quite a bit, and have talked with a couple of local vendors. I'm happy to correspond with you on the topic. Among the important considerations are: your location, what the deck is made of, and whether the deck is brand new or has been in place awhile.
I live in rainy western WA and am building a small deck with kiln dried, red cedar. After reviewing a trillion or so websites, I've decided to use Flood brand oil based stain, likely semi-transparent but possibly semi-opaque (which other manufacturers refer to as "semi-solid").
In case you haven't seen it, I think this is a good article on the basics of wood stain:
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/all-about-exterior-stain
It might be worth noting in the above article: the potential fundamental failure of solid stains is peeling; the potential fundamental failure of semi-transparent and semi-solid stains is filming; in general, stains typically need maintenance every few years.
And here's a good video, in my opinion, on the basics of cleaning and staining a weathered deck. I don't know whether your deck is cedar, but cedar growers/harvesters/mills pretty much unanimously agree with what Mr Silva says in the video: do not power wash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Endync6z3XM
Other than ratings by Consumer Reports, which many folks have doubts about, following is the only honest to goodness hands-on survey of deck stains that I've found. There are websites that claim they've got hands-on survey data, but I found no other that went into the specifics of their tests.
https://www.deckmagazine.com/design-construction/finishes-maintenance/the-great-stain-shoot-out_o
Finally, in case you haven't seen it and you're a big fan of sleepless nights:
https://www.deckstainhelp.com/
Good wishes on the project ...
Q