In the present work we report on the growth, spectroscopy and laser results of diode pumped Pr-doped LiYF4, LiLuF4 and LiGdF4 fluoride, scheelite-type structure crystals. We measured the polarisation dependent absorption and emission properties as well as the decay time of the 3P0 level. Exploiting the 3P2 absorption around 444 nm, we obtained efficient laser emission under GaN laser diode pumping on several transitions from the green to the near infrared wavelength range.