I'm considering between the new Garmin 93sv UHD2 ($1200) and the "old" Lowrance HDS-9 Live (which has been reduced to $1000).  This would be for a small boat (starting my electronics set up from scratch).  The UHD2 is new and maybe has the better transducer (GT56), but the HDS is a higher tier and still has higher resolution even though older (although presumably not as good a transducer with the Active Imaging 3-in-1).  I would probably expand to Livescope+ or Active Target 2 depending on whether I got the Garmin or Lowrance.  Image/sonar quality is probably my primary goal.  Any advice?  Many thanks in advance!

Both are solid units and I'm sure you'd be happy with either. The AI 3 in 1 is good SI transducer, but you could upgrade to the AI HD transducer which is compatible with the live, but it carries a hefty price tag. Overall, the Lowrance has quite a bit higher display resolution so if image quality is what you're after I think it will be the better option. Transducers can keep improving, but if the screen res isn't there, you're never going to be able to take advantage of it. 

Thanks!  Super helpful.  I decided on the Garmin 93sv UHD2 because, from what I found, upgrading to the AI HD transducer also required the S3100 sonar module (another $950!), meaning the HDS-9 by itself was not directly usable with the AI HD transducer.

Yeah, unless you're going to go with the new Lowrance Pro, you'd have to buy the black box which as you found out isn't cheap! I'm sure you'll be happy with the Garmin!