Thanks Russell, that's really useful to hear.
Like you, to save myself a lot of work, I wouldn't mind an oil that is sprayable initially to get it on the wood, and then brushed or mopped on to work it into the wood after. We've got a massive decking in the middle of one of our lawns and the thought of kneeling down for an entire day, if not more, to hand-brush it on fills me with dread - especially as the uneven / ridged surface of decking planks are not forgiving on hands & knees after a very short while!
My short-list is either the Ronseal oil product or the Liberon oil. Both seem to have overall pretty decent reviews from what I can find (and it's hard to find good, independent online reviews other than those on Amazon). Here's an example:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ronseal-Dec...409141232&sr=8-1&keywords=ronseal+decking+oil
Whilst I appreciate that some of these reviews are written by idiots that would probably complain if a little man didn't jump up out of the tin and paint the product on for them, you need to give these reviews a small pinch of salt and take them as a general overview.
What is clear to me, from others experience, is that you should never bother using some sort of decking stain, I've read story after story of stains coming up / peeling in patches after a winter's treatment. What I'm hoping to uncover is a long-lasting, properly penetrative oil, that leaves the wood in a natural (ish) colour finish and makes the rainwater bead on the wood surface and run off for as long as possible after application. I don't think I can reasonably hope for anything more or better than this from a good product!
My decking is already power washed and ready for some treatment with something - just trying to work out which is best so that I don't balls it up with a bad choice and have to attempt to remove it and do it over again!
Just need to wait for a good few days of clear dry weather now that the Summer seems to have buggered off, so that what I do put down goes down on dry timber....