In the past, I have used thinking_sphinx with Rails 2.3 and I found no problems with it. Is it worth considering a new search option?
What are the differences between searchlogic and thinking_sphinx? Is there a better alternative for Rails 3? I am keeping my options open at the moment and I am looking for suggestions.
The search functionality will need to perform full text search, efficiently and would probably be better if results were indexed.
Go for thinking sphinx. I have used searchlogic in 2.3.x apps but I couldn't use it for Rails 3 although it's probably working now. And remember that searchlogic isn't designed for full text searching.
The helpers for sorting are helpful. But in my opinion nothing beats full text search.