Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Sanding sealer vs stain

I have some minwax stain and minwax sanding sealer. I tested both on the wood and they both turn the floor about the same color. Is there an advantage to using one over the other? Someone told me the sanding sealer is not a stain and it doens't matter how you apply it (ie, you can't apply too much in an area and turn the floor darker). If so, that would be an advantage because I wouldn't have to worry about putting too much on and not having a uniform floor.

Here are the products I am using:
http://www.minwax.com/products/woodprep/sand-seal.cfm
http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/woodfinish.cfm

Thanks for any help.

Stain is a colorant to change the color of the wood.
Sanding sealer is like a clear primer for wood. It seals and raises the grain which once sanded requires less sanding between the next coats of finsih.
Typically you would have 1 coat of sanding sealer and 2 coats of varnish. Even with stain you would still need these 3 coats.
While it is true that sanding sealer or varnish are more forgiving than stain it still pays to apply it evenly. The final coat must be applied evenly or it will show.
Hope this helps.

I would go w/ the sanding sealer/polyurethane combo. It's going to give you a better looking finish. Make sure the sanding sealer will accept polyurethane back on top, a lot of times you have to use a varnish.