If you’re in the market for an iPad and MiFi combo this holiday season, you may want to skip Verizon’s bundle and head to your local Best Buy -- they’re offering free Mobile Hotspot bundles from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

9to5Mac is reporting that Best Buy is now offering iPad + MiFi bundles of their own, and their deal makes Verizon’s paid offering look fairly weak in comparison. The bundles include a Wi-Fi only iPad of your choice at the usual price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB, but throws in a free MiFi mobile hotpot when you sign a two-year data agreement.

If you’re not familiar with the MiFi, it’s a small, pocketable device that converts a carrier’s 3G data signal into a mobile hotspot capable of connecting up to five devices via built-in Wi-Fi. The devices have been around for awhile, but lately they’ve caught on as a good way to use the iPad over 3G on a carrier other than AT&T.

Best Buy’s bundle actually trumps Verizon’s own bundle released in late October -- not only is it an upgrade from the older MiFi 2200 to the newer FiveSpot, but it’s free up front (the Verizon bundle adds $130, but gives you the option of contract-free prepaid data similar to how AT&T works on the 3G-enabled iPad).

The bundle deal at Best Buy also adds AT&T and Sprint to the mix, who don’t currently offer an iPad + MiFi bundle at all (AT&T provides the built-in data for the 3G-enabled iPad). But you’ll have to move quickly -- the Best Buy bundles are a promotion that ends on January 2.

Of course, the downside to Best Buy’s deal is you’ll be locked into two years of a 3G data plan with your favorite carrier, but should an iPad 2 come along in a few months that you simply have to have, the good news is you can use your MiFi with any Wi-Fi enabled device -- and be able to sell your old one on eBay without consequences.

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(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)