Best exterior wood stain available?

It's that time again, I need to stain my cedar sided 2 story house. I love the way it looks with a new coat of oil, but this needs to be done every 2 - 3 years. We have decided to switch to either a semi-transparent or a solid stain. Any strong recommendations out there? I don't care about the cost of the stain, I'm looking to minimize my time on a ladder. I'm looking for experienced based recommendations.

I stained our old house with Thompson's just before we sold it 10 years ago. The new folks just got around to restaining it, it probably should have been done sooner. Needless to say, I'm looking for something better than Thompsons.

Thanks in advance, JT

Having started with oil it may limit your options. Wood exteriors require regular work but they sure do look nice.

Egon