The way you're creating the Canvas is correct.
I suppose you're working on Windows (pfui

). renanse reported the same 33% boost with LWJGL and he's working on windows, too. On my system LWJGL is slightly slower than JOGL either on Windows or on Linux and no lag with both. The problem with JOGL could maybe be related to your driver. Did you install the latest detonator?
Which picking system are you using? The old style one or PickingLibrary.pick()? I suggest you to use PickingLibrary. There should be no difference if you're using LWJGL or JOGL when you're using the PickingLibrary. Please tell us, if there is. In between I'm fixing the GL-picking system, which is the on I meant by old-style. If I can handle the selection of the picked nodes efficiently, this will certainly be much faster than PickingLibrary. And I'm sure, that I can

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Marvin