I figured this thread was good pointing out what to spring for Knipex specifically for.
Here's some things:
74 01 200 8" diagonal cutter -these have very good leverage and cut well. I might eventually get the 10" one for thicker stuff, but these are great all around cutters.
38 11 200 8" snipe nose (sometimes incorrectly called needlenose) - these are the best mechanic snipe nose pliers I've seen. No annoying cutter makes for good fitting and stiff jaws that mate perfectly at the tips. Also, amazing gripping ability, and the handle fits my hand well, but the pivot is really close to the handle so you barely have to move it to open the jaws wide. Great design.
As you can see from my pliers drawer, these are what covers most of my needs for the wide variety of things that I work on. My next Knipex purchases will likely be duckbills (38 41 190) and bent nose pliers (38 21 200). After that, I will probably get 8" square (28 01 200) and snipe (28 21 200) nose assembly pliers to replace the ones seen on the right in the photo. That would easily cover nearly all mechanic needs. My long reach pliers are Mac and will probably stay that way, since any time you use a long reach plier, you are already compromising precision; it just doesn't make sense to buy these from a precision brand.
I also plan on buying Knipex or Engineer (Japanese brand) mini pliers to replace my craftsman and Mac ones. The Mac variant are okay, but the precision could be better, and do a lot of electronics work, so I think I deserve it. When I do, I'll be getting ~4" snipe, bent nose, 5" needlenose, and maybe a flush cutter for soldering. This would replace most everything left of center in the photo.
I also have Knipex 92 28 69 ESD fine point tweezers. These are wonderful to have around and do a good job at everything you would use tweezers. Just a note: get a least one good non serrated tweezer. I like Knipex, Wiha, etc. Anything German or Swiss. There are fancier brands, but those two when found on sale are great. Try Zoro.
