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I have both the 1204 and 1205. The 1204 is enough rod for most beach fishing I can think of. If I was going to toss the biggest wood on it, I wouldn't go with a balls-to-the-wall cast, as it's rated for 2-1/2 oz at the upper end. But it does fine with 3 oz.
If you're talking about the Canal and jigs of 4-5 oz as well as big wood there (3-1/2 or 4 oz pencils, the biggest Polarises, etc) then I'd vote for the 1205. It's not the rod for small Bombers.
I like the 9' Batson blanks, but I've never been a big fan of the 10' ones--whether Batson, Pac Bay or even the original Sabres. All Star's 10' blanks have a more moderate/fast taper and beefier tip sections. The new SU series of Batsons should be identical to the All Star line.
It's really hard to find one rod that'll cover all your plugging bases. I haven't had the chance to cast the Arra 1084 yet. But asking a rod to cast a 3-1/2 oz Danny as well as it casts a 7/8 oz Bomber is a tall order. The 1204 comes as close as any rod I ever tried--just remember, big metal lips swimmers don't cast well in any event, so don't try to drive a cast on a big Danny when using the 1204. It won't break if you use a nice easy cast and let the flex of the rod do the work.
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